The Bombay Royale

Melbourne’s HopeStreet Recordings deliver an eclectic, yet amazingly deep AND fun album from The Bombay Royale. Their album, “You Me Bullets Love”, has led the Australian broadsheets to describe it as being “where A.R. Rahman and Ennio Morricone converge, where “Slum-dog Millionaire” meets “Goldfinger” head on, with Quentin Tarantino and Indiana Jones lurking in the corner.”

The Bombay Royale are dedicated to bringing music and mayhem of vintage Indian cinema back to the future, where it belongs. Their debut album “You Me Bullets Love” is a blend of haunting Hindi and Bengali vocals, pulsing deep funk and disco breaks and shimmering surf-a-delica. Expect huge horn riffs, wild spaghetti guitar, bustling tabla, screaming organs and all the synthesizers, sitars and strings that made the music of 1960s and 1970s Bollywood so electrifying.

Starring vocalists Parvyn Kaur Singh as “The Mysterious Lady” and Shourov Bhattacharya as “The Tiger”, “You Me Bullets Love” is the soundtrack to a story of espionage, excitement, extended dance sequences and the eternal power of true love.

The golden age of Bollywood was a riot of saturated colour and dramatic excess, and the music that accompanied it was unmatched in bizarre experimentation, deep sophistication and outright funky badness: a treasure trove for sample hungry hip-hop heads and secretive, vinyl-obsessed funk collectors. Musical director Andy Williamson (“The Skipper”) formed The Bombay Royale to bring the hidden musical gems of that lost era out into the light. The originators, people like R.D Burman, Asha Bhosle and Mohammed Rafi are still household names in India, but largely unknown in the outside world. The Bombay Royale is here to rectify that situation.

Los Fulanos

For a while now, going to see Los Fulanos has been one of the best things you could do in Barcelona (or anywhere else). Los Fulanos have gotten back that riffraff/dissolute vibe of a pre-Olympics ‘92 Barcelona. Their concerts are a party where Afro-Latin rhythms come together with a thousand other things, and above all, latin soul.

Los Fulanos have gained a reputation for their priceless live shows, small revolutions that inevitably end in a wild party. Sometimes on their own, sometimes accompanying legends like Peret or Joe Bataan (they were his band on the Afrofilipino tour), and sometimes together with Los Menganos on the choruses, or even their friends The Pepperpots.

The previous phonographic endeavors of Los Fulanos have been fantastic. They have recorded singles for both Vampi Soul and Lovemonk, which have been very successful in the world of latin soul. They were also the band for Joe Bataan’s latest album, “King Of Latin Soul”. But, now they’ve decided to take a step forward, with their own songs, a more powerful sound on their recordings, and with a desire to bring all the power that they exude in their live shows to the grooves of an LP. And that’s precisely what they have done on “Si Esto Se Acaba Que Siga El Boogaloo” (If All This Ends, Keep On With The Boogaloo).

Miguelito Superstar (from Fundación Tony Manero) got behind the wheel for the production of the album, and in this, their first LP, the Fulanos have opened up a sonic spectrum. Boogaloo, yes, but also with funk, disco, Afro-Cuban rhythms, Bolero… and even a version of “Blue Monday” in the Fulano style! Ultimately; always on the good side of latin soul. The spirits of the greats from Fania breathe deeply on this album, but it also has a touch of something different - that tasteful musical melting pot that is Barcelona - and a great sense of humour to match. The best thing you can do is listen to the album, and the louder the better… que se formó la rumba con Los Fulanos.

Till next time….

Email us: streetnoise_show@hotmail.com

Our next air-date: will be May 25th, 4pm - 6pm PST & in the U.K. 12am - 2am.

Listen on: My House -Your House radio network - http://myhouseyourhouse.net/

or I -Tunes radio under electronica : My House -Your House.

STREETNOISE! PLAYER

LIKE THIS MIX?

Track List:

Featured on today’s show:

Yuna

Music is one of the most powerful forces of unification. It has the power to heal, the power to help, the power to inspire, and the power to change. Yuna understands the importance of music and has the ability to write songs that transcend any and all boundaries. With her soft vocals and warm acoustic guitar, this singer-songwriter crafts intriguing and infectious ruminations on life, love, and so much more.

Growing up in Malaysia, Yuna was first inspired by the universal appeal of acts like No Doubt, The Cranberries, and Fiona Apple. At the age of 19, while in law school, she picked up a guitar and began to fervently write. She released her self-titled EP in Malaysia in 2008. The single “Deeper Conversation” became a massive success and went on to win the title of Best English Song at the 2009 AIM Awards, Malaysia’s national music awards. Yuna swept the ceremony, garnering Best Pop Song and Song of the Year for her Malay song, “Dan Sebenarnya”.

Yuna joined Fader Label in summer 2010 and released her digital EP Decorate in March 2011, which had fans, critics from Billboard, KEXP, The New York Post, and even Russell Simmons himself, who raved, “an amazing new singer…her music is incredible”, all instantly praising her talents. Also in 2011, SPIN magazine featured Yuna in their Buzzcatcher piece, “Eight Bands You Need to Hear Now” and she gave a stellar performance before a packed audience at MTV Iggy’s “Best New Band in the World” concert in New York City. Yuna was a finalist in the “Best New Band in the World” competition and the show aired live on MTV’s HD Screen in New York’s legendary Times Square and was also streamed live worldwide on MTVIggy.com.

Yuna just released “Live Your Life”, the first single which we played on this show from her forthcoming full-length album. Yuna’s self-titled album will be released on April 24, 2012.

Stand High Patrol

Hailing from Brittany Stand High Patrol are the Three Musketeers of the French dub scence. The unit consists of Rootystep (Selector), Mac Gyver (Operator) and PupaJim (MC / Composer). Their productions cover a wide range of rub a dub styles from 80’s Digital Dancehall riddims, UK steppers and rootsy dubstep cuts. The debut single “Business of War” / “TV Addikt” on their own Stand High label is a downbeat digital riddim with Pupajim’s distinctive high pitched vocal. Studio collaborations have been with Kenny Knotts, Dixie Peach, Murray Man and Danman. Pupajim has also featured on releases by Kevin Martin’s King Midas Sound, Denmark’s Maffi Productions for Jahtari and Tayo on Mungo’s Hifi Scrub a Dub imprint.

Kenny Summit

Kenny Summit’s first DJ gig came when he was just 16 years old, playing alongside Moby, DJ Keoki and Deee-Lite’s Super DJ Dimitry at Peter Gatien’s nightclub, New York City’s infamous Limelight. Word of DJ Kenny Summit’s unique ability to span musical genres from house and hip hop to rock and elctro spread quickly, thrusting him almost immediately into the global DJ spotlight, spinning high-profile events such as the VH1 Fashion Awards, after parties for the Grammy’s, and movie premieres galore. This new found notoriety presented a world of opportunity and soon Kenny found himself DJ’ing alongside the same DJ’s and Producers he once looked to for inspiration. Gigs with Jazzy Jeff, Paul Oakenfold, Tiesto, Frankie Knuckles, Fat Boy Slim, Stonebridge, David Morales allowed Kenny Summit to learn his trade from the masters themselves.

The opportunities continued to roll in when nightlife impresario Michael James took a liking to Kenny Summit; “Mike Played a big part in my career. He introduced me to the fashion world in a very big way.” Soon after, Kenny was DJ’ing at some of the most exclusive events in the world, for clients including, Versace, Vogue, Gucci, Sports Illustrated, Oprah Whinfrey, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Elle Macpherson, Steven Spielberg, Donald Trump, the Royal Family of Dubai and even the last few President’s of the United States of America.

A thirst for all things musical eventually led Kenny Summit to the production side of music; “I was at the point where I really couldn’t do much more as a DJ in New York City. Production was the obvious next step. I had a long talk with Junior Sanchez about production and he gave me some good advice.’ Kenny’s years of dance floor experience translated into top notch production. His first mix compilation ‘One Night in St. Tropez’ was released on Ultra Records in 2009, a well received “underground” remix with Ara K was featured on the 2010 Scion A/V CD, on going collaborations with house music icon Scott Wozniak and projects with two time Grammy winner Eric Kupper will be released later this year.

Since his landmark debut almost two decades ago, it’s safe to say DJ Kenny Summit has had a blessed career and continues to lead an extra ordinary lifestyle; DJ’ing for Royalty, Celebrities, Fashion Icons, producing music with Grammy winners, traveling across the globe to spin for music fans of many genres… Who knows whats next for Kenny Summit. A reality show perhaps? A Grammy nomination of his own? Only time will tell. Until then, keep an eye out for upcoming releases from DJ Kenny Summit.

Till next time….

Email us: streetnoise_show@hotmail.com

Our next air-date: will be April 13th, 4pm - 6pm PST & in the U.K. 12am - 2am.

Listen on: My House -Your House radio network - http://myhouseyourhouse.net/

or I -Tunes radio under electronica : My House -Your House.

STREETNOISE! PLAYER

LIKE THIS MIX?

Track List:

Nneka

Pop music is a ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ world. A starburst of YouTube notoriety and then oblivion. Or at least it is for most. But when your journey has been as long and extraordinary as Nneka’s – when you’ve travelled 10,000 miles and are still only just starting out - then instant celebrity is the last thing on your mind.

When your heart is as big as your Afro, when your talents stretch from teardrop soul-singing to freestyle rapping to a first-class degree from a top Continental university, when you’ve got so much to say about so much, then you are in it for the long haul.

Every year since her musical career took off in 2005, this Afro-German warrior princess has built on her successes, stretched her muscles, and widened her range. Her debut album “Victim of Truth” (released in the UK in 2007), an inspirational mix of hot loops, black consciousness and 21st-century soul music - was garlanded with praise by the British media. “As good as The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” said UK’s The Sunday Times.

Her sophomore release was every bit as lush and visionary as her first. A record where brains, beauty and beats collide “No Longer At Ease” made its mark across Europe and beyond. It’s a record that Lenny Kravitz and Lauryn Hill both heard and said: ‘I want this girl opening my show!’

It’s easy to see what got Lauryn and Lenny so animated. Nneka’s music has still got a big splash of Bob Marley in the recipe, a measure of Nina Simone and a lick of Erykah Badu.  But this time around there’s more of the best ingredient – Nneka herself. Her first US release, “Concrete Jungle” is a collection of songs that put the singer/songwriter at the forefront. This album is an offering of love, hope and optimism dedicated to the people of Warri & the Niger Delta of Nigeria. Holding it all together is the emotional focus of her beautiful voice, located in a place somewhere between yearning and rage.

The daughter of a Nigerian father and a German mother, Nneka Egbuna was born in Warri, Oil City in the Delta region of Nigeria at the height of its new found wealth in the mid 70s.

For nineteen years she soaked up the sounds and rhythms of one of the most musical nations on the planet, a country where expressing yourself through song is just a part of everyday life, a country that has music in its very DNA, where the influence of giants like Afrobeat revolutionary Fela Kuti is never far away. But at the age of 19 this modest and hard-working young girl made the big decision to leave behind the African way of life. To further her education, she moved not just to Europe but to Northern Europe, to the industrial seaport of Hamburg in Germany. For the young Nneka, it was a dramatic change, and there remains an intangible quality in her voice that speaks of being a long, long way from home.

“The cultural differences between Germany and Nigeria were extreme,” she says. “The way they dress, the way they carry themselves, their religion. So many things that were important to me are not important to them. For two years I was overwhelmed.”

For all its innate musicality, Nigerian culture perhaps prizes education higher than any other achievement, and while Nneka was making her first demos and beginning to make waves as a performer, she was determined not to waste the stack of A-levels that she already had under her belt. Enrolled at Hamburg University, she continued to study for a degree in anthropology – no mean feat when you’re in demand at clubs and festivals from Paris to Lisbon, from Vienna to Madrid.

While love, hope and optimism form the bedrock of all Nneka’s recorded work, there’s a steeliness to her new material, the engagement of a highly developed mind on some of the tough realities of modern politics – both personal and international. It takes no little courage – and insight – to write a song like “Africans”, which tells her people to stop blaming their colonial past for their problems and take responsibility for themselves. To then go back and sing it to packed houses in Nigeria – where the military rule with an iron fist - shows an extraordinary depth and strength of will. But that’s just what she did, making a triumphant return to her home country on tour with MTV-Award-winning Nigerian rapper 2-Face.

Yet, like the woman who wrote it, the song “Africans” is not dry and hectoring – it’s a soft and elegant melody, a piece of music that doesn’t need to shout but instead seduces. Backed by the production of her longtime collaborator DJ Farhot, whose dubby sound-world she has inhabited since those early demo days in Hamburg, Nneka finds the perfect foil for the raw emotion that she brings to a vocal.

It’s a testament to the strength of Nneka’s talent that her success so far is based on word of mouth, on the quality of her albums and the intensity of her live performance. She is not a big-label product, forced down people’s throats by marketing dollars. Her audience now numbers hundreds of thousands across two continents, for Nneka now divides her time between homes in Lagos and Hamburg. Those listeners are people who have tracked her down, because there will always be a demand for music that does more than just entertain, but touches something universal. As she puts it herself: “I do it in a sweet way - but I sing to speak the truth.”

Nnka’s new album “Soul is Heavy” is released this month in the US, we played on this show “Sleep” featuring Ms Dynamite.

Till next time….

Email us: streetnoise_show@hotmail.com

Our next air-date: will be March 16th, 4pm - 6pm PST & in the U.K. 12am - 2am.

Listen on: My House -Your House radio network - http://myhouseyourhouse.net/

or I -Tunes radio under electronica : My House -Your House.

STREETNOISE! PLAYER

LIKE THIS MIX?

Track List:

But Ian and the whole team don’t just fire out promos and hope for the best. The organization as a whole is all about smart strategy, and part of that master plan is a monthly podcast hosted by Strakes and featuring a 30 minute guest mix from one of the artists, labels, producers or DJs featuring prominently on Kahua at the time. It highlights the tracks that Kahua have to offer while providing the listener with a menu of tunes to hunt down in the coming weeks and insight into someone in the scene who is really making things happen. It’s become a My Cuppa T office favourite, and we know it will be one of yours too.

You can check out the most recent podcast featuring Nordic Trax boss Luke McKeehan and Kahua owner Strakes right here:

Luke McKeehan & Strakes - Kahua Music Podcast #37 by Kahua Music

Want more from Kahua? Check out all of their antics here.

And if you want to subscribe to the awesome podcast (highly recommended), then check out this link to iTunes

Enjoy!

Firstly, we have to apologise. It’s been a silly amount of time since we’ve been around. We have to say a massive thanks to stalwart poster Mr Stephen Zelenka for keeping the home fires burning. And let’s not just gloss over that. Steve and his Streetnoise! sound has been floating across the airwaves for just over a year, yet they’ve already become one of the most anticipated, appreciated and eclectic shows on My House Your House. The one constant about the show is the incredible selection and diversity that only a man with Steve’s incredible experience and exposure to decades (we wont out you here mate, don’t worry!) of incredible music gets you. It has truly become a must-hear show for people with a taste for the finer sounds out there. Congrats and thanks to Steve for his continued efforts, and keeping things fresh not only here at My Cuppa T, but on airwaves across the world.

So what’s new? What’s changing? What the ****’s been going on?

Well, our core team’s evolving. We’ve been upping sticks and moving all over the world. CheckPoint has been on daddy duty, Ian’s been getting married and running start-ups of all shapes and sizes on the lower half of the globe and our DJs and contributors have been club hopping and party-harding across all 7 continents, non-flippin-stop. But we’re all still doing what we do for the love of house and all things groovy, so we never really went far.

What’s in the stars then?

We’re not entirely sure, but we’re definitely going to be around a lot more! And we’re partnering with a whole host of wonderful contributors who’ll feature in the form of reviews, radio shows, podcasts, mixes, production downloads, news stories, event postings and anything else that has its finger on a beat.

Partnerships you say?

Yep, with some of the very best too… the guys have to be our cuppa t, of course! We’re going to host the incredible Kahua Music monthly podcast, which features an hour of the superb new music from Kahua, split into 2 sections; a half hour mix by Kahua main-man Strakes, and a second half guest mix featuring the amazing producers, labels and creative masterminds involved with Kahua. It’s a superb show that highlights some of the very best upcoming releases available. One not to miss!

The Kahua podcast sets the tone for where we’re heading on the mix front. CheckPoint is back with his fortnightly Trans-Atlantic Airwaves show, which continues to break down barriers of conventional broadcasting with his anything-goes, Sunday night voyage into the musical sensibilities of the Trans-Atlantic turntable cowboy!

And wrapping up the mix section will be a steady rotation of guest mixes from the boys and girls of our little house family. Friends and acquaintances from the long and winding journey that’s brought us to right here!

Mixes… got it. What else?

Well, the music as always will be the main focus. We’d like to be able to supply a steady stream of podcasts, radio shows and mixes that will let you come here in the morning, and while away the whole day with us… so we especially invite feedback and requests from you about what you’d like to hear. There’s no promises, but we’ve got a few friends in high places, you know!?!

You want a little more than that, we’ve got it. So we’ll keep reviews, news, videos and other hot topics in the forefront of the site. We’ll be trolling the web for juicy tit-bits daily, while welcoming any messages, emails, calls or other communication with anything you think we should feature. If it’s got it, it gets in!

So there you have it. The world’s still round (sort-of…), the music industry lives on (post PIPA, SOPA, YADA, f*cking snoozie YADA…) and house music still is the greatest sound around. Plenty of it is coming your way on the following posts, so grab your mouse, pull on your headphones and have a look around. And drop us a line when you have something to say - we love hearing from you and thank everyone for the kind words since we’ve been away.

My Cuppa T’s back kids. Come and say hi!

x

It’s about time we paid some attention to Larry Levan, I love virtually everything Larry touches, his distinctive pulsating synth bass sounds are as refreshing in a retro way as it was in the eighties!

Two of his reworks of Gwen Guthrie’s tracks are my favorites, “Padlock” & “Peanut Butter” which we played on this show, so…

Neglected by many because of his early death and lack of recordings, Larry Levan is one of the seminal names in dance music, a legendary inspiration during the 1970s and ’80s. Influenced by David Mancuso’s seminal Loft parties, which presaged disco by more than five years, Levan took his cue and transferred those communal vibes to clubland with one of the most famed night spots ever, the Paradise Garage. For more than ten years, Levan’s  garage style was a wildly eclectic mix including any tracks (or parts of tracks) that would make people dance, including Motown and Philly soul, Afro-Cuban and Italian disco to new wave, punk, and classic hard rock. He influenced hordes of hardcore club-goers and a wave of DJs ranging from Tony Humphries to Paul Oakenfold.  More than anyone, Levan set the tone for New York disco in the ’70s and the garage axis of house music during the ’80s. By the ’90s, mainstream New York dance swung to a diverse cast of dance artists and mixers, all of whom had in common the one thing that united the records on Levan’s decks: soul.

Levan began his first DJ residency while still a teenager, at a New York club called the Gallery in 1971. Both there and at his next club, the Continental Baths, Levan worked with (and profoundly influenced) the future godfather of house, Frankie Knuckles. After setting up the Soho Place midway through the decade, Levan  joined the Paradise Garage in 1977 and began changing the face of dance music. Unlike other disco clubs around the city (including the notoriously hip, but musically flat Studio 54), the Paradise Garage featured a nightclub built on music, with attendees who were preferential about the music they danced to — not who they were seen by. Levanand engineer Richard Long supervised construction of what has been called the best sound system ever produced, and spent hours before opening each night to make sure that acoustics, speaker placement, and atmosphere were perfect. To give club-goers the ultimate dance experience, experience used an assortment of subtle tricks; during the night, he would even upgrade the quality of his musical selections and turntable needles until music, mixer, and dancers hit their peak simultaneously. (The Paradise Garage’s sound system was so good, in fact, that it was later bought by London’s Ministry of Sound, carefully disassembled, shipped overseas, and installed in a new space.)

By the beginning of the ’80s, disco’s flame had been extinguished by a glut of sub-par recordings and rabid anti-disco movements. Levan continued playing to an increasingly underground (though still ecstatic) audience. He also began working on studio production as well, recording remixes and special dance versions of pop songs for labels like Salsoul, Prelude, and West End as well as the occasional major label. Though many of his 12″ productions were obscurities of the highest order (except in the crates of privileged DJs), tracks by  The Peech Boys, Jimmy Caster Bunch, Loleatta Holloway & Skyy became certifiable dance classics. By the mid-’80s, the sound of New York/Chicago house music had begun to infiltrate England.

In an ironic twist, however, the man who did much to pave the way for dance music wasn’t around during its rebirth. By September 1987, the Paradise Garage had closed its doors. Though Levan’s name appeared on several remixes and productions during the late ’80s and early ’90s, he spent only a fraction of his time in the studio compared to during his heyday. Levan returned to the DJing booth on a 1992 trip to Japan with Francois Kevorkian, though later in the year he died from a congenital heart condition, exacerbated by drug use. Only his post-productions were collected on various albums until 2000, when Strut released an eye-opening set titled “Live At The Paradise Garage.”

Till next time….

Email us: streetnoise_show@hotmail.com

Our next air-date: will be March 2nd, 4pm - 6pm PST & in the U.K. 12am - 2am.

Listen on: My House -Your House radio network - http://myhouseyourhouse.net/

or I -Tunes radio under electronica : My House -Your House.

STREETNOISE! PLAYER

LIKE THIS MIX?

Track List:

We lost another legend this year…..

Jimmy Caster - R.I.P.

As leader of the Jimmy Castor Bunch, the elder Castor combined funk and humor with such novelty songs as “Troglodyte (Cave Man)” a No. 6 Billboard pop hit in 1972, and “The Bertha Butt Boogie” two years later. Mr. Castor’s records featured a recurring cast of characters, including a caveman who chants the mantra “gotta find a woman, gotta find a woman,” and the irrepressible, full-figured dancer Bertha Butt.

He covered a wide range of styles during his career — doo-wop, Latin jazz, funk — and this led to his nickname, “The Everything Man.” His 1966 hit “ Hey Leroy, Your Mama’s Callin You” helped popularize the Latin soul sound that came from the convergence of Latin jazz and rhythm-and-blues in Harlem and came in the wake of similar hits by Joe Cuba and Ray Barretto.

Writing in the New York Times in 1988, music critic Robert Palmer said that Jimmy Castor was “something of a broad humorist” in style and that his “band cooked mightily, projecting verve and style with its crisply interlocking rhythms.”

Castor’s most lasting influence was through sampling — the process, mostly in hip-hop music, where a snippet of music from one recording is featured on a later recording.

As one of the first performers to sue over the process, he pursued Beastie Boys for a sample of his “The Return of Leroy (Part One)” on their 1986 song “Hold It! Hit It!” His son said the case was settled out of court, and that Jimmy Castor received a percentage on 7 million copies sold.

“It wasn’t really about the money,” said Castor Jr. “He really wanted to set some kind of principle.” In fact, he later derived more income from the sampling of his music than from sales of his own records. “Hip-hop has been fairly good to me,” he told the Village Voice in 2004. “In the beginning it wasn’t, when people like the Beastie Boys just raped my music. C’mon man, as L.L. Cool J said to me one day, ‘That’s like taking someone’s vintage car out of the driveway and just driving it away!’ When they pay, I love it.”

The title track of his 1972 album  “It’s Just Begun”, was prolifically sampled for a dance sequence in the movie “Flashdance” (1983) and later by a range of performers including 2 Live Crew, the Spice Girls and actor Mark Wahlberg during his earlier career as Marky Mark. Other Castor records have been sampled by Kanye West and Mos Def.

James Walter Castor was born Jan. 23, 1940, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. He spent his teenage years in the Washington Heights neighborhood, where his friends included Frankie Lymon, lead singer of the doo-wop group the Teenagers. Mr. Castor had a similar, adolescent tenor voice and filled in with the group when Lymon couldn’t make engagements.

With his own group, Jimmy and the Juniors, he wrote and recorded the song “I promise to Remember” in 1956. When a Lymon cover version of the song became a big hit, Mr. Castor used the royalties to move his family into a bigger apartment.

The Lymon connection continued later in the 1990s, when Castor briefly sang lead with a reformed Teenagers.

Alice Russell -

One listen to Alice Russell’s voice will send shivers down your spine and leave goose bumps on your neck. Alice’s lavishly soulful voice is both timeless and up to the minute modern. Live or on record, she always performs with her trademark self assurance and sass. Listening to Alice, you’d naturally think she grew up on the streets of Detroit, just around the corner from Motown’s legendary recording studios. “No, although I wish I had,” admits the blue-eyed, blonde-haired lass from Brighton, U.K. Her singing career actually began as a young girl singing in her church choir. “Our singing was more of the traditional SATB [soprano, alto, tenor, bass] parts you hear in the great classical halls and cathedrals”

Although her style is predominantly bluesy and soul lament it also encompasses everything from funk to gospel to jazz and beyond. “Growing up, I was surrounded by different types of music and you know, you just get taken by something, don’t you? It hits you in the right place and you think, ‘Yeah, Baby, I like that!’ That gospel stuff is wicked, isn’t it? And artists like Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin … I was really small, playing with my Lego, taping this stuff off of the radio. I just fell in love with soul music, quite honestly. Just hearing that music hit the spot.” She comes from a musical family, her father was a classical music teacher, and her sisters were classically trained. It wasn’t until Alice was around nine that she began formal music lessons on the cello for a few years. But the only training she ever had with her voice was “with my ears” and just “by picking things up.”

Today Alice has developed a burgeoning career as one of the hottest UK soul singers with growing audiences around the world. While comparisons have been made to other popular British vocalists like Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse, Duffy and Adele, one listen and look at Alice and you can immediately tell she’s in a class all by herself. She has performed alongside well respected company that includes Roy Ayres, The Roots, Lonnie Liston Smith, De La Soul, Quantic, and The Quantic Soul Orchestra to name a few.

Alice has built quite an impressive discography since bursting onto the scene. Alice’s first album, Under the “Munka Moon” was an amalgamation of various projects (singles, remixes, collaborations) and a great introduction to new listeners. Then came “My Favourite Letters”, her debut studio album created by Alice with co-writer, producer, guitarist and musical soul mate Alex Cowan (a.k.a. TM Juke). The album received prestigious press accolades and proved she was an unstoppable voice to be reckoned with. Her third release, “Under the Munka Moon II” compiled her most recent collaborations, remixes, and cover versions including her popular interpretation of White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” for another satisfying listen.

The dynamic duo of Alice and TM Juke have been touring together for the past two years with their hand-picked band, wowing audiences in the U.K., Europe, Australia, the U.S. and in other countries. Last year, when not busy turning heads with their dynamic stage performances, Alice and “her boys”—as she affectionately refers to her group—were busy in the studio, recording her brand new album, “Pot of Gold”.

“Ah, my dear friend Alex. I just love working with him,” Alice says of her co-writer and producer for “Pot of Gold”. Both had lived in Suffolk when they were growing up and would occasionally see each other at parties, but since Alice is “the granny, just a little bit older” they didn’t work professionally together until both were in Brighton, where the Tru Thoughts record label is located. Alice sang on several tracks for TM Juke’s first album. “So that was the beginning of our lil’ friendship and creative birth,” she smiles. “Our working relationship is always evolving and ever-changing as things that are alive should always be moving and growing. It’s like; we’ll push each other into different places. And for writing music, that can sometimes be very good.”

Till next time….

Email us: streetnoise_show@hotmail.com

Our next air-date: will be February 17th, 4pm - 6pm PST & in the U.K. 12am - 2am.

Listen on: My House -Your House radio network - http://myhouseyourhouse.net/

or I -Tunes radio under electronica : My House -Your House.

STREETNOISE! PLAYER

LIKE THIS MIX?

Track List:

In one week we lost both Johnny Otis & Etta James, in remembrance….

Etta James was born on January 25th 1938, Jamesetta Hawkins died January 20, 2012, James was one of the most sustainable divas on the R&B scene with more than half a century as a performer and a long list of hits to her credit. She was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. James’ contralto voice is both rough and tender, on the faster material not unlike blues shouters like Big Maybelle, Big Mama Thornton & Koko Taylor, but more soulful on the ballad side.

Singing with a female doo-wop trio, she was discovered as a teenager by Johnny Otis. As featured vocalist, just turned 17, she had her first R&B #1 hit with Johnny Otis’ “The Wallflower (Dance with Me, Henry)” in 1955. She recorded for Modern Records & Kent Records for the rest of the decade.

In 1960 she signed with the Chess label and became the labels top female star throughout the 60’s and a regular R&B and pop charter with her signature song “At Last”, “Sunday Kind Of Love” “Stop The Wedding” a.m.o. In 1967 she - as Aretha Franklin before her - went to the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio to record the successful and more soul styled album “Tell Mama”, introducing another R&B classic, “I’d Rather Go Blind”. From 1965 to the mid 70’s however she battled heroin addiction and her popularity declined. She recorded with Chess until 1976. Her Chess era career, addiction and relation to Leonard Chess is a sub-story portrayed in the 2008 movie “Cadillac Records”. The role as Etta James in the movie is played by Beyonce Knowles who also recorded some of her songs for the soundtrack.

After years of decline and struggle in 1978 she recorded one of her all-time best album efforts, the Jerry Wexler produced “Deep in the Night”, but what could have been a strong comeback instead was the beginning of a decade of recording silence. Finally, in 1988 she went back to the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio she so successfully recorded in twenty years earlier and with Barry Beckett and the top studio session players made the album “Seven Years Itch” and from then on and until 2006 she has recorded frequent and solid albums. In January 2011 she was diagnosed with leukemia.

Till next time….

Email us: streetnoise_show@hotmail.com

Our next air-date: will be February 3rd, 4pm - 6pm PST & in the U.K. 12am - 2am.

Listen on: My House -Your House radio network - http://myhouseyourhouse.net/

or I -Tunes radio under electronica : My House -Your House.

STREETNOISE! PLAYER

LIKE THIS MIX?

Track List:

I decided just to showcase one artist this week because of his impact on a music, and the springboard of a cultural & political revolution the one and only father of AfroBeat….

Fela Anikulapo Kuti was born in Abeokuta, Nigeria in 1938, was a singer-composer, trumpet, sax and keyboard player, bandleader, and politician. Kuti was one of Africa’s most controversial musicians and throughout his life he continued to fight for the rights of the common man (and woman) despite vilification, harassment, and even imprisonment by the government of Nigeria. Born to Yoruban parents, Kuti was strongly influenced by both parents, his mother being Funmilayo, a leading figure in the nationalist struggle. Practically all of his records are dominated by political events and discussions from the approach of Pan-Africanism.

In 1954, Kuti joined the Cool Cats as a singer in that highlife band (highlife being the rage of the Lagos music scene at the time). During this period Kuti developed his own unusual sound which he described as highlife-jazz. In 1968 Kuti announced the arrival of Afro-beat, within the year was promoting his sound all over the USA on a 10-month tour where he became influenced by American jazz. When he returned to his homeland he opened a nightclub, the Shrine, and changed the name of his band to Africa 70 (and later to Egypt 80). His bands traditionally included the typical huge line-up consisting of many singers and dancers, numerous saxophonists, trumpeters, drummers, percussionists, and of course, many guitarists blending African rhythms and jazz horn lines with politicized song lyrics. His music was intricate, rather than calling it Afro-beat you might more arguably consider it Afro-jazz. Entire recordings often consisted of just a few songs and this propensity for jamming set up a roadblock for Fela to attain commercial acceptance in the United States. He also abhorred performing a song after recording it, and this led to audience disinterest in the U.S. where the people wanted their music to be recognizable hits.

Kuti continued his outspoken attacks on the Nigerian government. When the people returned to power in 1979, Kuti began his own political party - MOP (Movement of the People). The military returned to power in 1983 and within the year Kuti was sentenced to five years in prison on a spurious currency smuggling charge. He was released in 1986 after yet another change of government.

Fela Anikulapo Kuti died on Saturday, August 2, 1997, at 4pm (local time) in Lagos, Nigeria. It had been rumored for some time that Fela had a serious illness he was refusing treatment for, many said he was suffering from prostate cancer. But as it turns out, Fela died from complications due to AIDS. As Fela’s brother, Olikoye Ransome Kuti, said at a news conference:

“The immediate cause of death of Fela was heart failure, but there were many complications arising from the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome”.

Fela was a man with great influence in the African music world, he is irreplaceable and his presence will be sorely missed!!.

Till next time….

Email us: streetnoise_show@hotmail.com

Our next air-date: will be January 20th, 4pm - 6pm PST & in the U.K. 12am - 2am.

Listen on: My House -Your House radio network - http://myhouseyourhouse.net/

or I -Tunes radio under electronica : My House -Your House.

STREETNOISE! PLAYER

LIKE THIS MIX?

Track List:

Hi-lighting some of the artists that we played on today’s show:

Darondo

A mystery to most, Darondo records are high on the wants-lists of many collectors. He is spoken about in hushed-tones by other Bay Area musicians. Back in the day he was seen cruising around town in a white Rolls Royce (with a “Darondo” license plate). He opened-up for James Brown and lived a colorful lifestyle hanging with folks like the notorious Fillmore Slim. Take a listen to these tracks, released for the first time together on an album, and you may agree that he could have been the next Al Green or Sly Stone. But about 25 years ago Darondo disappeared.

Releasing three singles in the early 1970s (as Darondo, Darondo Pulliam, or the miss-spelled Dorando) he mixed low-rider soul with blues and r’n'b. He delivered in a variety of styles from the socially-charged “Let My People Go” to the sexually-driven funk of “Legs”. All three singles were recorded in the San Francisco Bay Area, and both sides of each of the singles are fantastic productions.

“You can hear a little bit of everything,” says Darondo about his music style. “There’s a little jazz and a little soul. They say if you Black you supposed to have soul. I got Latin flavor in me so there’s some Latin in it. Definitely got the Blues in it. I sound kinda’ country but I grew up in the Bay Area,” he adds.

But after the release of his three 45s Darondo stopped recording. “It was mostly me, just having a good time with a real good hobby,” he says. “It wasn’t about money but about having fun. Something I just liked to do. Maybe your dream is to be a James Brown or Frank Sinatra but those were just mostly dreams to me.”

Outside of the music business Darondo was living life to the full, and it eventually caught up with him. “Folks would say Daron got that dough,Daron Do that’s how I got the name. I used to get my suits tailor made, one of a kind, like my rings. A player can’t have the same ring as someone else. Got my rings specially made with diamonds and stones. But in order to get yourself together you had to get away from all the fastness. I was driving around in a Rolls Royce, I was a fast young man,” adds Darondo.

Darondo now lives in Northern California with his wife and family and is delighted to hear his music is getting a second wind courtesy of DJs and collectors like Gilles Peterson who recently picked “Didn’t I” for his “Digs America” compilation.

Frente Cumbiero

Bogotá’s Mario Galeano is a bass player, a record collector, a music scholar and a composer. His band is called Frente Cumbiero, and together they stand at the heart of the current renaissance of Cumbia music. Unlike the electronic sounds of Mexican Sonidera and Argentinian Cumbia Villera that first hit global soundsystems, the new Colombian approach uses the orchestra as a starting point and preserves a real sense of the Afro-Caribean and its vinyl culture.

With dark hair, a round face and a moustache, the flannel-clad Mario Galeano could almost be mistaken for of Pablo Escobar or one of Fernando Botero’s characters. He is what you would call a “real Colombian”. Imagine him with a sombrero and a ruana poncho on his shoulder and he would fit the image of a local cowboy. The difference is that he’s sitting at the counter of Matik Matik, a Belgian-owned bar dedicated to the promotion of experimental jazz, folk and cumbia, located in the arty and popular neighborhood of Chapineiro. It is a thousand light years from the harsh realities of basic Colombian life, and yet is a place that perfectly reflects what modern Bogotá represents: an ever-changing, inventive, juxtaposition of eternal features and new prospects.

He can be seen anytime hanging with interesting piers such Quantic, another producer dedicated to taking Cumbia to another level through the use of traditional recipes and unexpected blends. Whereas then he was only starting to promote his new record, (which his British-Colombian friend enthusiastically endorses) This time round you can be sure that the Frente Cumbiero 45s that were pressed in the US on names you can trust are sold out, and he is on the verge of being distributed by London’s legendary Honest Jon’s Records.

The Lijado Sisters

There is much to love about the Lijadu Sisters, identical twins of entirely self-determined nature who sing like birds, albeit carnivorous birds with roomy lungs. The sisters raised a brood of four kids, none of whom allegedly knew which Lijadu sister, either Kehinde or Taiwo, was their respective mom. The Lijadu Sisters seemed to be well in control of their professional destiny and critical of the colonial mentality that pervaded Nigerian record companies. They also had little patience for the male chauvinism that was seemingly part of the furniture in their native Nigeria.

The Lijadu Sisters also featured in one of my favorite music documentaries, Konkombe. The work of English director Jeremy Marre,  Konkombé was the Nigerian installment in his 14-episode world music series, “Beats Of The Heart”, which ran often on PBS during the late ’80s. The three chapters concerning the black diaspora (Jamaica, South Africa and Nigeria) held the best blend of musical, political and cultural content, and of this trio Konkombé was beyond fabulous. It was loaded stem to stern with great performances, fascinating archival footage, revealing interviews and near-palpable neighborhood funk. (With much of the last; speaking at New York’s Museum of Natural History, Marre described the horrors — corpses left in front yards —routinely encountered during his Nigerian shoot.)

The Lijadus are seen taking care of their kids and rehearsing in the side yard of their house. Without much accompaniment beyond a couple of talking drums and acoustic guitar, the sisters sing in unison, laid-back and vibrantly erotic in the same breath: “If you want to…you can touch me.” Then the camera invades a session with the Lijadu Sisters at the cramped, over-heated Lagos recording studio run by their record company, Decca West Africa. The same song is being recorded, but feels rushed, not nearly the wonderfully loose-limbed affair heard a few minutes previous. Aside from coping with their crumby work environment, the sisters do battle with their overbearing producer (a Nigerian version of the evil producer portrayed so well by Lou Reed in Paul Simon’s otherwise regrettable film, “One Trick Pony”). It’s a wonder Kehinde and Taiwo got anything done at all, much less music of the quality heard on today’s show track “Orere Elejibo”

Till next time….

Email us: streetnoise_show@hotmail.com

Our next air-date: will be January 6th, 4pm - 6pm PST & in the U.K. 12am - 2am.

Listen on: My House -Your House radio network - http://myhouseyourhouse.net/

or I -Tunes radio under electronica : My House -Your House.

STREETNOISE! PLAYER

LIKE THIS MIX?

Track List: