earconditioning

Moving house

2009-03-25T02:04:00.003Z

I've moved the Ear Conditioning blog to http://earconditioning.wordpress.com/

It had to be done.

See ya there....maybe.

Ear Conditioning / Substance Abuse

2009-03-17T13:45:00.009Z

The sports desk presents another edition of all manner of sound. From the luscious horns and and keyboard work that carry Diplo's 'Sarah' to the onehundreadpercent roots of Fe Mi Time.

I came across South African Dudu Pukwana during my time at Virgin Records. They distributed the Trevor Herman label that was/is Earthworks. Great label Earthworks. Also from South Africa is the contribution from Jonny & Sipho, from the Rhythm of Resistance album.

There's been quite a build-up in the UK press about the forthcoming reunion/30th Anniversary tour by The Specials. It's been a bit ugly though as the band founder/leader Jerry Dammers is not part of the tour. Something not quite right here. I saw a raving review of his latest project the Spatial AKA Orchestra last week and that put a smile on my face. Kevin Martin told me that Dammers had invited The SpaceApe to do a version of Ghost Town, would love to have seen that. I always thought the Special AKA album, In the Studio was fantastic.

Is it really almost twenty years ago that Jane's Addiction played the Marquee venue in London?

Sonny Boy Williamson / Let your conscience be your guide (Chess)
Jonny & Sipho / Inkunzi Ayi Hlabi Ngokusima (Earthworks/Virgin America)
Fe Mi Time All Stars / Black Rights (Pressure Sounds)
The Specials / Long Shot Kick The Bucket / Liquidator / Skinhead Moonstop - The Peel Sessions (BBC/EMI)
Asha Bosle, Shabir Kumar & Chorus / Mujhe Dulhe Ka Sehra Gane Do (Music India)
Saul Williams / PG (Witchita)
Jane's Addiction / Of Course (Warners)
Dudu Pukwana / Bayoli (Earthworks)
Flying Lotus / Golden Diva (Warp)
Akazéhé / Par deux jeunes filles (Ocora/Radio France)
2562 / Channel Two (Multiverse/Tectonic)
Richard Pryor / Africa (Warner Brothers)
Diplo / Sarah (Big Dada)
Tracelements / Noisy featuring Scalper
Tracelements vs. D.WattsRiot / Ear To the Wall Version
The Special AKA / Alcohol - The Peel Sessions (BBC/EMI)
Living Colour / Hemp featuring Andy Farley (CBS)
Buddah Music / Loop 05 xi (mp3)

There you have it.

This edition of Ear Conditioning will be broadcast tonight in Tenerife via

Radio Norte 89.4FM at 20h30,

then it'll be available via Sunhole at 22h00.

I'll make the podcast available tomorrow, here.

Simone at Lagenda here in Tenerife has asked for a little 15-20minute mix to go on their website/forum, and that should surface soon, along with some mixes from fellow Sunholers, LastOne and Tanin, I think Simone is going to do a mix also, hope so. Lagenda have been very supportive of my endeavours, much thanks.

Update on the previous post, Charles Holgate: It appears that he and /Rupture had a lengthy telephone conversation last night, and he asked that the post be removed, and he's going to clarify things. His ass is getting a bit sweaty methinks, as now if someone fucks with you, all you gotta do is do a post, and it can spread like all over and you tons of people will know that you are an asshole. Need some tissues for your butt Charles?

Charles Holgate / MC Run with yer Money

2009-03-17T01:33:00.007Z

There's a new MC in town.....used to be known as MC Nomad, but now called MC Run-with- yer-money!

Checked in with our man DJ/Rupture over at Mudd Up! an hour ago, and bam, one heavy post about Charles Holgate, who was hired to do publicity for the Uproot album in the UK.

Uproot was a damn fine project that /Rupture mixed for the Agriculture label. (I had it on this morning, well, yesterday morning)

Turns out Charles Holgate took the money and ran, neglecting to give updates on progress/or lack of, to /Rupture or the label. Finally after six months he came with some lame excuse about not getting any press, while taking credit for the review that appeared on Pitchfork.

Having worked in press and publicity, I know the game, and he definitely played by his own rules, thinking that he would get away with it because his client was based in the US, thousands of miles from his London base.

Just check the link above and read for yerself, should you be interested.

Charles sucks big time.

I'm sure there's gonna be an update to this.

This scenario reminds me of when I played at the Aguaviva Festival last year. When the time came for me to get paid, the booker Alby at La Luciérnaga Producciones avoided my calls and texts like the plague. Just heard a couple days ago that they went bust. Fuck you!

Although, they'll most probably change their name and resurface again.

ps. Charles, you need to update your LinkedIn page, it still says Head of Press at Zzzonked, when you clearly left there over six months ago. Also, don't forget to add Teef.

¡No al Puerto de Granadilla!

2009-03-16T19:23:00.001Z

Ear Conditioning / For use in subhuman primates

2009-03-10T18:07:00.016Z

I was over at the Field yesterday or this morning and he's got a post on racism. He writes how some call him a " 'racialist' 'cos he always on about racism". Then a little while ago, I found this. A story about a Navy Officer who went to work to find a 'Vote Mugabe' poster on the wall behind his desk. We really hate having to go down this road, we really do.

Some think we get up in the morning, have Coon Flakes (yes, that's what one of the guys in our group at school used to say for awhile) and look forward to another day of racist tirades with a watermelon grin on our faces. Whitey please!

Carnaval nah done!

Never in my wildest dreams would I think Groove Armada would do anything that would pleasently stroke my ear lobes. The folks at Mad Decent made it possible with a right calypsoul breakout remix. GA have linked up with a rum producer that ain't Havana Club, to harvest the power of the internet.

S'pose it worked since the promo company working this project sent me the audio file via the 'nets.

Back to the carnaval theme, Ghislain Poirier has been busy busy and the result is Soca Sound System. Did ya eyeball the video in previous post?

Earlier today Zomby dropped a response to Simon Reynolds' article in The Guardian (UK Press) about the relationship between his music and Ketamine. That's him told good an' proper. Got Zomby's ten-minute mix for Radio 1, in the program again. Arpeggiated synthax and cold beats holding court.

Also a return visit to the works of Dub1 out of Virginia, USA

The legendary Lee 'Scratch' Perry gets a reworking by The Moody Boy with Rootical Mr. Manuva along on the mic.

For Spanish speakers and loudspeakers, here is an interview with Filastine that was on RNE last week.

Also a couple slices from the Ghana Soundz Vol.1 album from the tasty Soundways label. That would be a great place to work.

Ear Conditioning - For Use in Subhuman Primates and Cats only

http://earconditioning.podOmatic.com/entry/2009-03-11T04_30_58-07_00

Filastine / Singularities (Soot/Jarring Effects)
Ghislain Poirier / Immigrant Visa (NinjaTune)
Groove Armada/ Crank it Up Mad Decent Remix
Ashmahan / Naoueit (Club Arabe)
Zeza Barkak Melbeka / Fatma Ben Meddah from Sprigs of Time (Honest Jons)
Dub1 / No Weapons (DreadTek)
Zomby / Mix Session (Hyperdub)
Pest / Heard ya bird moved in (NinjaTune)
Lee 'Scratch' Perry / Give Me a Call Mate -Moody Boyz Remix feat. Roots Manuva (On-U Sound)
3rd Generation Band /Because of Money - Ghana Soundz Vol.1 (Soundway)
Oscar Sully & The Uhuru Dance Band /Bukom Mashie - Ghana Soundz Vol. 1 (Soundway)
Welcome to Jamrock Daddy G Mix
J-Star meets Ms. Dynamite / Never Fall in Love (J-Star)
Alan Freed Outro Goodnight and thanks for the use of your speakers.

Ghislain Poirier- Get Crazy

2009-03-06T09:53:00.001Z

From the Soca Sound System release on Ninja.....Tropical breaks made in the sub-zer0 freeze of Montreal.

[ GPG : GHISLAIN POIRIER - GET CRAZY feat MR. SLAUGHTER ] from Gabriel Poirier-Galarneau on Vimeo.

Mastering Tips

2009-03-04T21:55:00.007Z

One of my first jobs at Virgin Records in London was in the A'n'R Dept., booking cutting (or mastering) appointments at mastering facilities such as the Townhouse, CBS in Whitfield Street, or Porky's, to name a few.

For those that don't know, Cutting or Mastering is the final opportunity to tweak the sound, and it's prepared for vinyl and/or cd manufacture.

I'm putting this hear (sic) so I will hopefully remember to come back to it when needed.

Thanks to thedailyswarm.

The Smell of Carnaval

2009-03-01T21:08:00.016Z

Greetings from Carnaval-drunk Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The fiesta that is Carnaval in Santa Cruz is coming to an end, mind you,only to spring up in other parts of the island. Santa Cruz is the biggest open toilet at this time. While moving to the battling sounds of murga's in one earhole and DJ El Killo in the other, the stench of a weekend of us pissing on any available space took over...goddam!

Some amazing costumes were to be witnessed however.

The best for my eyes was the guy with a sheep attached to mid-riff as if he was giving the sheep his manhood from behind. The surprised expression via the sheep's eyes gave the costume it's crowning glory. The other top costume was a mobile replica of a swimming pool, complete with two live-action synchronized swimmers.

This week's program doesn't reflect Carnaval at all, not one iota...sorry, sick of hearing Salsa!

It's a bit loaded with El-P/Co.Flo material for some reason. I had to play 'Fuck the Law' from the WeAreAllGoingToBurnInHellMeggaMixx2 release 'cos of the killa line:

"My god they got a child convinced with a lie that he'll die honorably"

Former Co.Flow deckwizard, Mr. Len also shows up behind the boards for Kice of Course.

Speaking of 'of course'...of course I had to check out the link to Nickelus F track featuring Portishead. Well, it's not featuring, he raps over a couple of their tracks....Cowboys and Roads.

For awhile I had a habit of listening to Nubian Minds' "Black Science" as a wind down to the sonic day. It has the some of the same subtle Techno sensibilities that Martyn is running ahead with at the moment.

Hey, where the females at?

Sorry for the lack of representation ladies....step forward Voice. Over a piano laden jazz step of a beat, Voice brings humour and wit to the situation of a rapper trying to make ends meet.

When I found the Nickelus F track over at nahright.com, I also found this gem, Alex the fourteen year old beatboxer....which 12million views on youtube, everybody 'cept me musta seen this by now, nonetheless, it's brill'.

Ear Conditioning 03 March 2009

King Midas Sound / Lost - Flying Lotus Remix (Hyperdub)
Company Flow / No Locks (Rawkus)
Nickelus F / Cowboys featuring Portishead (mp3)
Kice of Course / Like Smack (Dummy Smacks)
Self Scientific vs. Linton Kwesi Johnson / Degrees of Bass Culture
IQ Productions vs. Kope (Banana Klan)
J-Zone / No Consequences feat. Huggy Bear (Old Maid)
Ice / Trapped in Three Dimensions - El-P Remix (Morpheus)
El-P / Fuck the Law (Definitive Jux)
Voice / Mediocre (Public Transit)
Freeform Arkestra/ Freeform Theme (Straight Ahead)
LV vs. Dandelion / Takeover Dub (Hyperdub)
Jazzsteppa / Taylor Rain (Studio Rockers)
Ize / Tronka di Mundo
King L Man with Grenouille/ Mariposa (Ear Conditioning)
Wesley Willis / The Frogs (Sympathy for the Record Industry)
Nubian Minds / Black Science - Restless Soul Remix (Archive)

Ear Conditioning is 'earable Tuesdays

FM Radio - Radio Norte 89.4FM 20h30 GMT

Internet Radio - Sunhole www.sunhole.net 22h00 GMT

FamilleBou Bess / Bomb Squad

2009-02-24T18:49:00.009Z

A little news piece on FamilleBou Bess from today's La Opinion newspaper.

There needs to be more African voices heard in this place, too much talking about them and never hearing first hand. That's the thing that gets me, as I mentioned in the previous post.

I did feel a bit weird that they asked if we could take the photo-shoot on the beach...a bit corny I thought, but as the concept around interview was the sea and how it connects Africa and the Canary Islands, I let it slide.

During interview FBB talked about their respective journeys to Tenerife, no easy feat, six days in an open-top, over-crowded boat suffering from a lack of food and water.

This isn't something for adults never mind teenagers.

The Ear Conditioning program for this week features a mix from The Bomb Squad, with a little help from The Loop Orchestra to close matters. The Shocklee Brothers are seriously into their dubstep.

Update: The Bomb Squad have just informed me of another mix they've uploaded for us to soak in, here.

Ear Conditioning is 'earable here:

Radio Norte 89.4FM Tuesday 20h30 GMT (Catchment area - North Tenerife)

Sunhole www.sunhole.net Tuesday 22h00 GMT (Streamed repeatedly during the week)

Those damn Africans again!

2009-02-17T00:27:00.018Z

The Canarian President, the short ass that is Paulino Rivero recently got my missus in a state when he said that 'the sad state of the hospitals and other social services here was due to the influx of immigrants' (read Africans).

We have had to wait seven hours in the hospital for results of a blood test, and it's the fault of my man Beyal yeah?

Go fuck yerself Paulino, there are only two hospitals on the island of Tenerife, just two, and they are within sight of each other. Man, your political party have been controlling the Canary Islands for ages, and what you done besides fill the pockets of your associates?

We've met people in the hospital that have to come from some of the other islands to get treatment.

Is that Ibrahima's fault? Don't think so mate.

How come we never see politicians canvassing at hospitals during election time?

Because they would get an serious earful and a rightful kickin´, but then the people forget when it comes to the vote.

Politicians and commentators have this habit of talking about the immigrants, but you never ever hear immigrants talking first had about their experiences.

With Famille Bou Bess, a group featuring three rappers from Senegal, with production from Ventor of Species/Dr. Luna and myself we aim to change that, in what little way that we can. More on FBB as it happens.

At least twenty-two Africans looking to make a better life for themselves and families lost their lives a couple days ago when a boat carrying them from Senegal capsized a few metres from a Lanzarote beach.

Meanwhile Europeans/Canarians continue to consume fish from West African waters like it's their god-given right. The European Union have recently ignored recommendations from their own scientists regarding fish stocks and approved higher quotas, when their scientists said there should be a reduction. This is directly affecting our brothers in Senegal and Mali, and contributing to people looking to get into Europe.

Yankee you got the power

When you want to enter country, you don't no need no visa

When you wanted some oil, you send the power
Anything you want, anything you do

You de policeman, the prosecutor, you the lawyer and judge and jury, jury.

Akoya Afrobeat 'B.F.B.F. (Panama)'

I was just catching up to see what the field-negro had to say, and his latest post was about the deep state of financial shit that the USA is in...that shit is knee deep and rapidly heading for their mouths of people around the globe. Racing to my mind came a conversation I had with somebody who is close to some of those that were residents at Guantanamo, courtesy of the US administration. The theory about the US being drawn into conflict in Afghanistan was raised. The idea being that a war in Afghanistan would be a financial drain. I was told that things went beyond their wildest expectations, although they didn't think that they would lay out (kill) so many innocent people....hhmmmm, something to think about.

Now sports...Last week when writing about Dub1, I mentioned Sheriff Lindo in the same sentence, which naturally led me to dig out the album. I now see that Lindo has a myspace page up and running. Cop the album Ten Dubs that Shook the World if you can.

People here in Tenerife are constantly asking me about ADF, so I dug out the DJ Scud remix of Witness...and hopefully some of those askers will be listening.

At Womad a few months back, the two guitarists from Antibalas gave me music from other afrobeat projects they have going on. Akoya Afrobeat is one, yeah, check those lyrics above, and Chico Mann is the other, a Casio-keyboard/drum machine led afrobeat thing. Yep, you read it right, Casio tone afrobeat!

Downloaded the Q-Tip/Tribe Called Quest mixtape by J. Period. Great stuff covering Q-Tip´s solo material as well as the Tribe material, obviously. Had me wondering though, where the hell is Shawn J. Period? Are they the same person? Answer to that is no, but I still wanna hear some freshness from Shawn J. Are ya out there Shawn? In the meanwhile I have to be content with what I have, which includes the Mos Def´s ´Universal Magnetic´ that Shawn produced, and a few other gems.

Ear Conditioning is broadcast every Tuesday via Radio Norte 89.4FM from 20h30 GMT and also via www.sunhole.net from 22h00 GMT

Ear Conditioning/Feb. 17 2009

Sheriff Lindo & The Hammer - Fatal Dub (Endless)
Pablove Black - Race Track (Studio 1)
Chico Mann - Say What (Kindred Spirits)
Negativeland - Christianity is Stupid
Mos Def - Universal Magnetic (Rawkus)
Q-Tip - Renaissance Remix feat. Lil' Wayne, Raekwon & Busta Rhymes (mp3)
State of Bengal - Skip-ij (SOB)
Amadou & Miriam - Ca N'est Pas Bon feat. Damon Albarn (Because)
Hijo de la Cumbia - El ghetto va a macer (Soot)
Kollington Ayinia - Omo n Gbo Temi (Honest Jons)
The Bug - Politicians and Paedophiles (Rephlex)
Asian Dub Foundation - Witness/DJ Scud Remix (Nation)
Flying Lotus - Roberta Flack/Mike Slott Reflunk (Warp)
Ekkehard Ehlers - Plays John Cassavettes Part 2 (the Agriculture)
King L Man - OneThirtySix (Ear Con)

It´s called Freestyle, but this style is expensive

2009-02-09T12:20:00.009Z

Yes yes good people.
What´s the dilly?
Well, trying to maintain man, just trying to maintain, you know it´s the standard refrain.
Seriously though, the Ear Conditioning program will now be carried by the good folks at Sunhole.net, based here in Tenerife.
As usual, the program goes out on Tuesday´s, the time, 22h00-23h00, we are in the same time zone as London, UK, if that helps. Finally Ear Conditioning will have a solid internet presence.

This week´s program starts with a short jaunt across the water to Senegal for some proper drumming courtesy of Doudou N´daiye Rose, the master drummer and his massive group.

I´ve been working over the past two weeks with Famille Bou Bess, three rappers from Senegal who survived the treacherous waters between Senegal and Tenerife. Also involved is Ventor, who people may know of through his work in Species, and also Dr. Luna, which contributes a percussion-concussion to the program with Pidele. More on Famille Bou Bess as it happens.

Continuing on, we have new-ness from Filastine, El Hijo de la Cumbia, Dub1 and Sukh Knight.

Dub1 sent me his album last week, it´s in the family of Sherrif Lindo and the Hammer, African Head Charge. With me now? Good.

Also in the set, representing the unclassifiable we have King Midas Sound, Kode 9 vs. LD and Martyn, who I can't get enough of at the moment, with his rerub of Shut Up and Dance's 'Epileptic'.

Did someone say "How 'bout some old school?"

Okay, old joints from Fun´da´mental and the Trinidad Steel Drummers, which both have that carnaval spirit that is ramping up in these parts.

Ear Conditioning 10.02.2009
Doudou N´daiye Rose - Ligueyou Ndeye (Virgin France)
Dr. Luna - Pidele
Shut Up and Dance - Epileptic/Martyn´s No Strobe Remix
Kode 9 vs. LD - Bad (Hyperdub)
Dub1 - Formed against (cdr)
Robert Fisk - Arab Democracy
Sukh Knight - Knightlife
Filastine - To the Motherfucking East (Soot/Jarring Effects)
El Hijo de la Cumbia - Cumbia de los Barrios (Soot)
Afronaut & Son de Batey - Golpe (Bitasweet)
Trinidad Steel Drummers - Cissy Strutt (Mystic Brew)
Fun-da-mental - Mother India/Moody Boys Mela Remix (Nation)
King Midas Sound - One Ting/Dabrye Remix (Hyperdub)
Lewis Parker - 101 Pianos (Melankolic)
Lewis Parker - 101 Pianos Instrumental Melankolic)

Ear Conditioning

Radio Norte 89.4FM Sunhole www.sunhole.net

Tuesday / martes 20h30-21h30 Tuesday / Martes 22h00-23h00

Ear Conditioning Radio 27.01.09

2009-01-27T09:21:00.005Z

Going out tonight via the airwaves of Radio Norte/Tenerife....Newness from DJ/rupture's Soot label. They have two albums ready to go, 'Dirty Bomb' from Filastine, and an album from Argentina's El Hijo de la Cumbia. Filastine has a new blog which holds words and pix from his travels and how this new album came into shape. If skewwed up maghreb-bass heavy-political as fuck sonic reflections are your thing, seek no more.

On a side note, last week, or maybe the week before, Robert/3D of Massive Attack posted on the Hoping Foundation, which assists Palestinian children. One of their myspace 'friends' felt that "musicians should stay out of politics". Get a grip guy.

Should we leave politics to politicians?

If so, why do we vote for them?

I think our man has forgotten that they are our representatives.

Okay, he isn't the only one that has forgotten this fact.

We are all guilty of such, and have let politicians run amok.

Anar-fucking-chy...or something different than this non-participatory couch potato politics.

Right, back to sports....

Emilliano Gómez is Hijo de la Cumbia, which translates as 'cumbia's son'. Smile-generating upsteppin' movimientos estas aqui hombre....muy guapo.

The third contribution in today's program that has Dj/rupture's hand on it in some way is the mix from Spoek Mathambo of Sweat X. Via his negrophonic blog, he posted a link to the mix.

Electro, hip hop, 4/4, dubstep and swathes of Detroit techno embrace each other in this mix.

From the Studio Rockers label is The Widdler, outta New Jersey.

So there you have it for this week's radio blast.

Two further stations here in Tenerife (Sunhole.net and PlanetRadio) have got in touch this week regarding carrying the program, so finally we should have a decent internet/podcast facility happening as well as island-wide coverage through the traditional airwave/broadcast method. More news on that as it happens.

For the moment, Ear Conditioning is available via Radio Norte 89.4FM Tenerife Norte

20h30 - 21h30

El Hijo de la Cumbia / Intro (Soot)
El Hijo de la Cumbia / Soy (Soot)
The Widdler / Sensi Samurai (Studio Rockers)
Artist & Title Unknown dubstep thing
Jazz Steppa / Taylor Rain (Studio Rockers)
Spoek Mathambo - H.I.V.I.P. mix Dezemba Liazonz featuring Geeneus, Sidelele, Izinja, Durban Funk, DJ Skhokho
Filastine / Bitrate Sneers (Soot/Jarring Effects)

Palestinian childhood

2009-01-25T11:21:00.004Z

Translation

I would tell him to come see out condition, our children, how they are left in classrooms, on the tile floor, no carpet, no food, no water, no electricity.

Is this life? This is siege, this is the biggest siege, the greatest siege by Israel.

I would tell him look and see how we are living; we're left here, we don't get to play, we don't et to laugh, we don't get to learn, we don't get to see kids' shows. I turn the TV on; all is see is funerals, shooting, death, war, tanks and invasion.

I don't find kids shows that I can pass time, learn from. I don't find cartonns to play (sic), watch and pass time. Everything is funerals and carrying martyrs and shooting.

We here, we don't have food, no water, no drinks, nothing. We are left like beggars.

Look at the other people, how they play, have fun, and laugh. We are under siege, nearly two years under siege. We don't get food or water; they have done nothing for us. They did not even open the border crossings so food and other things can get in.

African Head Charge

2009-01-16T00:04:00.002Z

What a joy to have seen and heard, and continue to be amazed by.

Ladies and gentlemen.....

African Head Charge - God Is Great

Alex Thompson / Channel 4 News (UK) and Israeli Prime Minister's Spokesman

2009-01-13T01:49:00.004Z

US mainstream journalists wouldn't touch this with your dick.

Ear Conditioning Radio 13.01.09 / Adios Frat Boy

2009-01-13T01:17:00.008Z

So the final Bush press conference took place this week. How many Palestinian's didn't survive to see the event on Al-Jazeera TV? How many Iraqi's didn't get the chance to witness GW say that not finding weapons of mass destruction was "a disappointment."

Is that what is was, a disappointment?

Which bit, exactly?

Motherfuckin' dumb-smart-ass-war criminal-Guantanamo/Abu Ghraib/Afghanistan torturing son of a bitch called Betty-Kanye called ya-Cowboy Hero my ass, Crude Oil Texas Dude-Frat Boy-Operation Iraqi Liberation (O.I.L.) rat bastard!

And then the "history will judge me correctly" bit. When will that be exactly? Will there be one solid point in the future that all historians will agree in the analysis of your presiduncy?

And the people that you made history? The innocents that were guilty of going to school, shopping or going to work, yet ended up shot, bombed, massacred, torn apart, abused and raped.

Oh and to top it off, Tony Blair receives the Medal of Freedom from frat-boy this week. What a club....you just can't make this stuff up. Tony Bliar, Middle East envoy....ha, what a joke. There are no jokes for those in Gaza.

See Media Lens for an insightful gander at the appeals for international action to halt further bloodshed....

As for sports....the following program may contain scenes you may find distressing: On the uplifting side we got Willanette Gospel Singers, from a choice album Life is a Problem, on Mississippi Records...(outta London!) Top quality gospel business, old raw style.

Mojo Nixon, ya gotta know about Mojo and Skid Roper...country licked humour tumor infected shenanigans. The singes and players behind 'She's Vibrator Dependent' and 'Debbie Gibson is Pregnant'. You ain't heard that shit, you ain't lived son!

What da hell ever happened to All Seeing I? A couple off-beat 60's soul-lounge dub heavy things for Earth Records, the later getting picked up by a major label...then what?

Man dear, Hyperdub. They got great big ears and a big love over there. Hyperdub = qualitee.

Samiyam, Zomby, the latest Kode9 wax, a collaboration with LD, called Bad....glorious Detroitechno spacial thing. Also courtesy of Hyperdub, King Midas Sound. Had to have some more of this. The KMart dropped of some b-sides, special mixes that didn't make it onto the official release. Dabrye's mix...oh lord!

I've always loved that Detroit sound, I was hanging around Virgin Records back in '87-88, when the guys running a subsidary label, 10 Records, picked up on MayDay, Kevin Saunderson,

Juan Atkins and fellow heads from Detroit. That shit was different, fresh....still is. Anyway, good to hear it's influence. It seeps out of Martyn's productions. Thanks again to the KMart who built on the one 3024 wax that is 'Vancouver'. His remix of Flyng Lotus is still got me propped up at night, luscious goods.

It's been swell....

Ear Conditioning 13.01.09

Radio Norte, Tenerife.

Lauryn Hill / Lost Ones - Instrumental (Ruffhouse)
Kenny Dope featuring Screechy Dan / Boomin' in ya Jeep - accap' (Freeze)
General Levy / True yer Body Good (Fashion)
DJ Food / Scratch yer Head (Ninja Tune)
All Seeing I / I Walk (Earth)
Willanette Gospel Singers / Pray On (Mississippi)
Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper / Legalize It (Enigma)
Parliament / Moonshine Heather (Invictus)
Mulatu Astatke / Ebo Lala (Soundway)
Asmaham / Aleik Sulat Allah (Club du disque Arabe)
Kuanga Nti Matu Kawa / Musique de Traqvail
King Midas Sound / One Ting - Dabrye Remix (Hyperdub)
SUAD / Epileptic - Martyn Remix
Kode 9 vs. LD / Bad (Hyperdub)
Gaza report
SystemWide meets Muslimguaze (BSI)
Augusto Martelli / Drums and drums from the Il dio Serpente soundtrack (Cinevox)
De la Soul / Stakes is High (Tommy Boy)
Bushims / Eight years of quality gaffs although many people lost their lives because of him
Dr. Phibes and the House of Wax Equations / Marshmellow Madness (50 Seel St.)

Ear Conditioning is broadcast every Tuesday / todos martes 20h30 - 21h30

Radio Norte 89.4FM

Favourites of 2008 / Looking to 2009

2009-01-02T16:57:00.007Z

Our man, Dub Gabriel has a new blog up and running, and he's asked some of his friends to contribute with their favourite things of the year just past....

I'm not sure if I was too late with my list, as we've had the house in a state of construction, meaning a mountain of dust everywhere, and also have had visitors from afar, therefore been doing the tour guide thing.

I won't bore you do death with over-analysis of 2008, there's plenty of that going on in the blogsphere.

Fav's of 2000-ate

The Bug / London Zoo LP (NinjaTune)

El-P / We Are All Going To Burn In Hell MeggaMixx 2 (DefJux)

Flying Lotus / L.A. EP 2 x 3 (Warp)

Banda Los Hijos de la Nina Luz (Soundways)

Songs of the Broken Hearted / Baghdad 1925-1929 (Honest Jons)

Kotchy / Sing What You Want - MRK1 Remix (Civil)

Zed Bias / The Cauldon featuring Jay Electronica and Ghost 1 (Sidestepper)

Orchestre Poly-Rhthmo de Cotonou / The Vodoun Effect (Analog Africa)

Gurzuf / Non-existent Cinema (Gurzuf)

King Midas Sound / One Ting - Dabrye Remix (Hyperdub)

DJ/rupture / Uproot (The Agriculture)

Akoya Afrobeat / B.F.B.F. [Panama] (Afrobomb)

Womad Las Palmas 2008, which gave us Speed Caravan, Ba Cissoko, Paprika Balkanicus, Femi Kuti & The Positive Force, Tony Allen, Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, DJ Mr. Benn.

Another new blog to check is from Filastine....Observations of the Beginning of the End of the World. It's the place to keep tabs on his new album, Dirty Bomb, coming out on Soot.

More as it happens, wishing you the best beats for 2000 and nine.

Thanks to all singers, players, promoters, producers, dj's, radio personnel that do it for the love. Also big shout to the folks that drop by Txola in La Laguna for a bi-weekly dose of the goodness.

Davey D interviews Rev. Jeremiah Wright

2008-11-27T01:46:00.004Z

The good reverend, Jeremiah Wright, interviewed by Davey D at the State of the Black World Conference held in New Orleans last week.
Thanks to Hypestyle at the Public Enemy message board for leading the way.

This is the link to Davey D´s site, from where the Jeremiah Wright interview above was

posted .

Whenever anybody asks me 'bout Obama aka Oh Man!, I think of The Good Reverand, when explaining the context of his "God bless, God damn" sermon, and OhMan! seemingly distancing himself from Rev. Wright. The Good Rev. said "That he (Rev. Wright) is a religious man and talks as such, while Obama is a politician, and he has to says what a politician has to say."

My point being, have we just witnessed the best marketing campaign of 2008? Noam Chomsky thinks so. People do need a change, ain´t no doubt about that and let the moment be savoured, it´s been a long time coming, howeverrrrrrr.......

Rapper NYOil was also present during the interview. If you know him it could be due to his insight which from what I´ve heard is on it, in the socio-political-music along the lines of KRS, Chuck D, Prof. Griff, Dead Prez et al. Speaking of the Oh-Man!, check out NYOil's 'Father Father', using Marvin Gaye's 'What's Goin' On?' and an Oh-Man! speech about parenthood.

Jay Smooth´s video blog expresses two points of view on the election outcome, one being the mundane politcal moment and at the same time a symbolic event. Both are true however the work has only just begun, meaning that voting was the first part. The real work starts Jan.20th next year when the OhMan! steps into the White House in Chocolate City. People are gonna have to be doing their bit as change never came from up top, it´s the people on the ground that bring forth the goodness.

Womad Las Palmas / Womex Sevilla

2008-11-16T22:01:00.009Z

The Womad Festival rolled into Las Palmas de Gran Canaria for the fourteenth time, and it did not disappoint this one. I was told that someone thought that it was 'too electronic'

Not sure who they were talking about because check who was on the bill....

Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Tony Allen, El Guincho, Speed Caravan, Papirka Balkanicus, Mariem Hassan, Femi Kuti & The Positive Force, Umdumo Wesizwe, Bo Cissoko.

Speed Caravan must have been the culprits as they had a laptop with the beats, oh yeah, and that dastardly El Guincho, yeah, him, his drum pad and sequencer were plugged into the National Grid. May the offspring of these two electricity-loving heathens be sold to the highest bidder and serve a life sentence making drums out of the hardest of termite resistant wood. That will teach them.

A journalist friend in London asked me to take some notes of the festival, and here they are:

Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra: (Friday night)

This NYC-based group are one of the torch bearers for Fela Kuti and Afrobeat which was one of the themes for Womad Las Palmas '08, as this edition of Womad also featured Fela's son, Femi Kuti, and also Fela's musical director and drummer Tony Allen. Antibalas have played over 1000 shows and they know how to involve the audience. Their call and response method of presenting their msic worked the crowd well. In typical Afrobeat fashion, their seventy-five minutes of allotted stage time was enough for six songs.

Tony Allen: (Saturday night)

Fluid, seven piece band. Climactic funk, hi-hats to the front, hammond organ smoothness, afro movements, colourful tom rolls and fills, give his drumming an expansive feeling, covering a huge range of expression. Along with Antibalas and Femi, he presented the sound of victory for the oppressed. "He is science.' said Mehdi/Speed Caravan.

El Guincho (Friday night)

His appearance represented a musical homecoming for Palbo Diaz-Reixa aka El Giuncho. Born in Las Palmas but now based in Barcelona, the last 12 months have been very hectic, due to the totally unexpected reaction to his mega-tropicalistic Alegranza album, which was recently picked up the the quality label that is XL Recordings. He has been developed his live show since I first saw him perform at the ECOS Festival in Tenerife earlier this year, as he is now armed with a drummer. I've got a lot of time for El Guinch', however not sure his set is suited to a big stage just yet, however the spirit of rave, afrobeat and carnival is very much evident and I give him top marks for stepping out on his own, being a leader, not a follower.

Speed Caravan: (Saturday night):

This Algerian/French four-piece comprising of Mehdi Haddab on the oud; Hermoine Frank providing electronic beats; Pascal Teillet, bass; and Mohamad Bouamar on percussion and vocals turned in one of the most talked aobut performances which also included a vsersion of the Chemical Brothers' "Push the Button". Mehdi's oud is plugged into two amplifiers giving in a presence and edge that one does not expect with this instrument. Who'se gonna sign these guys and make them huge? They deserve to be heard!

Umdumo Wesizwe: (Friday night)

This Zimbabwian group were another concert highlight, as was their workshop the following day. Ten vocalists and two drummers showed how it is done. Body-popping, kinetic dance moves while breathlessly delivering vocals. It's not fair!

Paprika Balkanicus (Sunday night):

Weapons of choice, two accordians, a guitarist, weird violinist, an electric double bass that used to belong to Rhonda Smith, one-time player for Prince ("I lick it every time I go onstage." said the current owner, Jozef Secnik) and a great sense of humour. This Serbian/Slovenian/Romanian quintet were very much appreciated, asking the thousands in the audience to all join hands and form a massive circle, to which the photographers went into a frenzied state trying to capture the images for the next day's front page.

The ever present 4/4 rhythms took a back seat as the Paprikans caught us with the 9/8 movement of 'Ne Kuni Me Majko' (Mother Don't Curse Me), a song about lost love. Bodgan Vacarescu's violin moved over the strings of his violin at speds unimaginable, generating open-mouthed reactions and stunned-into-silence audience reaction.

Mariem Hassan:

Her performance brought the Saharwian community of Las Palmas out in full force. Polisario flags were abound. At one moment the Muddy Waters blues filled the air, then rhythms that influenced Public Image Ltd during their Flowers of Romance period took over.

Darga: (Saturday night):

When they hit the stage, once again flags appeared, besides the Polisario flags, those representing Morocco, the Canarian Independence movement and Amazig (berbers, the forefathers of the Guanche, the original inhabitants of the Canary Islands). The flags swayed to the funk, rap and Marley-esque reggae flavours of this youthful group led by two vocalists and an 'Obama for Change' T-shirt wearing guitarist.

DJ Mr. Benn (Friday night)

He is part of a DJ crew with Massive Attack's Daddy G, so I was eager to catch his set, as I know G plays quality music, and if somebody is down with him, then they too got the goods. However a scheduling change meant that as we were eating getting some tasty octopus he was finishing his set. Grrrrr!!!!!! I'll have to make do with his mix CD for the time being.

Ba Cissoko: (Thursday night)

Fantastic! Great tones coming from the twin kora players, pounding beats from the calabah and top-shot energy from all players, made for a fitting opening night party.

Femi Kuti & The Positive Force (Sunday night)

The perfect festival closer. A blazing entrance with a five-piece horn section, bass, two drummers, guitar, and finally some female singers/dancers who must be some of the fittest around. There were several songs that lived in the 170+bpm range (drum and bass tempo) and they did not miss a step or shake of the hips. The furious pace swept Femi into a state of musical intoxication, eyes rolling into the back of his sockets, while the horns burned around the rhythms that proved the bedrock for songs about poverty, greed, corruption and Aids.

For the encore....a classic from his father, 'Water Got No Enemy'.

Thanks to Rod "The Hangman" Garrett and Nani, Tenerife's favourite percussionist for sound support...we must've done something right as the audience showed their love all weekend.

This week's radio program has some weight behind it, in my humble opinion. It ain't about me, it's the music that players have generated.

While at Womad, the two Antibalas guitarists presented me with cd's of side projects they are involved with. One is....damn, where's the cd?!

Okay, can't find that one at the moment, however the one I got in the playlist for today is Akoya Afrobeat.

I didn't see Speed Caravan at Womex the week before Womad, but I did manage to get a copy of the Womex sampler CD, and there's SC track there, replayed on the show for your pleasure.

Bedoiun Jerry Can Band and Senegal's Mo-DJ also have contributions to the same cd.

Andres Argil was represented at Womex by the Mexican Independent Labels association. His music stood out to me, as it was so unexpected among the more traditional 'Mexican-associated sounds' that one can come to expect. Here, we have field-recording/ambient/texture exercises taking over.

Steve Goodman's Hyperdub label continues to leave behind those that want to remain solely in the 'dubstep' arena. We have LV featuring Dandelion and the electrified Zomby.

Speaking of Zomby, over the next few weeks I'll be dropping some tracks from the forthcoming Zomby EP, yes on Hyperdub.

Okay, enough chat/write....

Ear Conditioning

Radio Norte 89.4FM www.radionorte.com

18 November 2008

Zed Bias 'The Cauldron' featuring Jay Electronica and Ghost1 (Sidestepper)

Mo-DJ 'Dosso' (Womex CD)

Fosforo 'Mosquito'

Rev. Lonnie Farris 'A Night in the house of Prayer (Mississippi Records)

El Hijo de la Cumbia 'Bombom Asesino Version' (Bersa Discos)

Andres Argil 'Diógenes' (Mexican Independent Labels CD)

Charlie Watts - Jim Keltner Project 'The Elvin Suite' Coldcut Remix for Helen Dawn (Cyber-Octave)

Digital Mystikz 'Conference' (DMZ)

Bedouin Jerry Can Band 'Ya el Yaladana' (Womex CD)

Akóya Afrobeat 'B.F.B.F. (Afrobomb)

Speed Caravan 'Kalaknik Love'

Saul Williams 'PG Beat' (Witchita)

LV featuring Dandelion 'CCTV' (Hyperdub)

Zomby 'Spliff Dub' Rustie Remix (Hyperdub)

Ear Conditioning on Radio Norte 89.FM www.radionorte.com

Tuesdays 20h30 - 21h30

Repeated Saturday 22h30 - 23h30

Oh, one other thing...my good friend Dani also put together a radio program that was dedicated to Womad, and you can check it here.....

Until next time.....

Squarepusher - Planet Gear

2008-11-14T19:36:00.001Z

His new shit.....yes, he produced the video too.

Squarepusher - Planet Gear from Warp Records on Vimeo.

Only the poor man feel it

2008-10-08T23:12:00.007Z

Our house is in a bit of a state at the moment, but nothing like what the people of the pueblo Cho Vito have had to go through. Cho Vito is a little town, part of Candelaria, 20km from Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

There is a Spanish law that states that buildings are not allowed to inhibit access to the beach/coast.

Many houses have been built in contradiction of this edict, and now the demolition crews are moving in. The thing is, in many cases permits for construction where given by councils, and also many houses on the coast belong to fishermen....which makes sense. There are also many hotels on the seafront that contradict the law....however it seems that it only the houses of the poor man that gets marked for demolition, as witnessed in this link. Big respect to some of the the police that reportedly didn't turn up for work that day, even 'monos' (monkey's, have a heart at times. Mono's are the Canarian equiv' of 'pigs', so ya know.)

There is a huge house not too far from where we live....sitting right there on the beach, the owner is a business man, well respected and all....the chances of his house being subject to bulldozers and police carrying him out are.....uh, zero.

Speaking of being Uprooted, this month sees the release of the freshest dj mix from the one called DJ/rupture. The tempo stays around 70/140bpm hence in the dubstep / atmospheric zone, giving lots of room for space and subtle movements where necessary, balanced with caustic bottom end and shards of metallic plug-ins. Clouds from Finland have a couple contributions, and they are treating my ears nicely. Also new to me are Atki2, Baby Kites & Nokea. Ekkehard Ehlers bring a super gorgeous piece of string-led melancholy to the arena, with a track called Plays John Cassavettes pt.2. Maga Bo and Filastine are included too.

I'll have some more of this compilation to come over the next few weeks, stay tuned. The video is from Baby Kites & Nokea 'Reef', which /rupture initiates the mix with....

A few years back, my good mate Tony Thorpe called me to assist on a track for an album he was producing for a singer from South Africa called Lulu. After the project was completed I was told that it was shelved as Lulu had got married and her husband did not want her to continue doing music. So I thought that was that, luckily I had a test pressing of the vinyl (although I lost one of the two vinyls). I did a net search at found out that the album did eventually come out under the name Lungiiswa Plaatjies. I really hope Lungiiswa is still doing her thing.

Ear Conditioning
October 7 2008

Asha Bosle - Jhunka Jhulade (Super)
Bap's Three Bips & A Bop - Oop-Pop-A-Da (Blue Note)
Overtone - Give It Again (Redbud)
Trouble Funk - Drop the Bomb (Sugarhill)
Fear+APC+Pulsinger+Koas - Title unknown (!K7)
Root Down - Title Unknown (White Label)
G.A.F. - Two More Things I Need to Tell You (Ruin)
Panda Bear - Comfy in Nautica (UUAR)
African Head Charge - Dervish Chant (On-U Sound)
Lungiswa Plaatjies - Title Unknown (Melt2000)
Diplo - Diplo Rhythm feat Sandra Melody, Vybz Cartel & Pantera Os Danadinhos (Big Dada)
Atki 2 - WinterBuds (The Architecture)
Clouds - Too Much (The Architecture)
DJ Food - The Sky at Night (Ninja Tune)

Ear Conditioning is broadcast Tuesday at 20h30 (Canary Islands/London Time)
Repeated Saturday night 22h00 (Canary Islands/London Time)
www.radionorte.com 89.4FM

Thanks to Tally at the architecture, and all singers and players.

Return to the Airwaves

2008-09-23T22:40:00.010Z

So, do you still think it's worthwhile putting your life savings in the hands of those on Wall Street?

Nevermind, as usual we had a mixed bag for the first program after the extended holiday break. As I mentioned in the previous post, Pedro, the man behind Txola, asked me if I heard of The Bug. Pedro, Pedro....you musta been too busy keeping the Txola clientele happy with the cervezas if you hadn't realized I play that shit every week! Kevin, if your reading this, he wants to come back to Tenerife in December, and do a session. Pedro knows he has to get get bass-bins, and we know who to speak to about it.

While in Costa Rica for a couple weeks, I was able to get one CD. Actually that is a mistruth....that's what politicians call it innit? When they say something that ain't correct?!

We took a day trip over the border to Nicaragua, and it was there, in the city of Granada, that I was able to get my hands on some local tuneage, Marimba Tipica Nicaraguense con Los Mismos de Ticuantepe. The music is very similar to what you find in the Pacific side of Costa Rica anyway. On the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, Soca and Calypso infused rhythms run things.

Gotta get back to CR as soon as possible. It's name is very appropriate, believe. Never seen so much fauna and flora. Apparently they have over 2000 species of orchids! We saw sloths, four species of monkeys, manta rays, turtles laying their eggs by the crate-load, tree-killing trees,tarantulas, pelicans, toucans, river flamingo's, the spectacular sight of lava flowing down the Arenal volcano at night, acres and acres of bananas and palm trees, snakes, crocodiles, caymans...it easily made up for only getting one cd. Well, to be honest, before heading to Costa Rica, I set up the owners of Rough Trade, Soul Jazz, Honest Jon's and Phonica record shops in London for awhile...they were happy to see me after a year, "Oh, have you heard this? How about this?" Sons of bitches!

Ear Conditioning
Program Sept. 23/2008

Intro - The Original Broadcaster, Christopher Stone
Burial - 01 (Hyperdub)
Dub Colossos - Azmari Dub (RealWorld)
Dengue Fever - Oceans of Venus (RealWorld)
Riko Dan & Heatwave - Mind How You Talk (Heatwave)
MC Gringo - Alemao / Toddla T Remix (Man Recordings)
Cavaliers Unlimited - Soul Vein (Mississippi Records)
Marlene Shaw - Liberation Conversation (Cadet)
Los Mismos de Ticuantepe - Dona sapa
Fandango, Puede y Taraf - Granada (Producciones Alebrije)
MHV - Chroumous (Discos Konfort)
Jefferson Belt - Where's He At? (Round Trip Mars)
Cedric IM Brooks - Idleberg (Soul Jazz)
The Bug feat. The Spaceape - Fukkaz (NinjaTune)
The Bug feat. Ricky Ranking - Too Much Pain (Ninja Tune)
Unitone Hi-Fi - Up To Eleven (Round Trip Mars)
Incarnate - Blissed (Post Contemporary)
Burial - Untrue (Hyperdub)

Fandangdo, Puede y Taraf performing Granada

Ear Conditioning is transmitted on Tuesday evenings at Radio Norte, 89.4 at 20h30, and is now available online via www.radionorte.com

The Bug / Skeng: The Video

2008-09-22T15:03:00.003Z

Fresh outta the box, Skeng featuring Killa P and Flow-Dan.
Directed by Anne-Marie Bergeron (Urler.tv)

Rethuglican Party Convention

2008-09-20T12:29:00.002Z

September 1st, Labor Day in the US, it was also Day One of the Republican National Convention. The following video was released showing an apparent mass arrest of utterly peaceful concert goers at the SEIU Labor Day concert.

Here's the press release that came with the video, from the Glass Bead Collective:

BURIED TAPE REVEALS USE OF FORCE AND AN UNWARRANTED MASS ARREST OF BYSTANDERS DURING THE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION
ST. PAUL, Minnesota (September 18, 2008) Video released today shows the indiscriminate arrest of a crowd of two hundred at the waterfront across from a concert on Harriet Island Regional Park during this month's Republican National Convention in St. Paul. The video includes multiple angles of the event as well as an interview with the cameraman who buried his footage and was one of almost two hundred people arrested for rioting without probable cause.
More than eight hundred people were arrested in St. Paul during the Republican National Convention. This video shows that at least twenty percent of the eight hundred plus arrested were seized without due cause.

God Bless America, AND FUCK THE REST OF YOU THAT DON'T LIKE IT!

Love is a piece of wax, about 7' inches wide.

2008-09-19T01:43:00.005Z

Txola, home of my dj residency, closed down for the month of August, so i took the opportunity to get to London, and get some new tunes, and also get some tracks mixed, however a faulty hard drive kicked that idea to the margin, years of work now in limbo!

"But didn't you have your tracks backed up?"
That's what the hard drive was for!

So I've now been told by somebody that knows, Lacie hard drives, they have a good solid metal case, but the power supply unit is shit...so back-up the back-up.

Meanwhile i'm waiting for the postman to deliver the records that I bought at Rough Trade, Honest Jon's, Soul Jazz and Phonica record shops, I had way too much in the excess baggage department. For the moment I am content with the 7"s that i managed to bring back....Cutty Ranks, Wareika Hill Sounds, J*Star, Junior Reid, MC Gringo/Toddla T remix, The Beatles on a Nyabinghi tip, Burro Banton, Cavaliers Unlimited and more, all due for a lashing tonight at Txola, action kicks off at midnight.

Ear Conditioning, as in the radio program, should also be returning next tuesday, so if your in the Tenerife area, tune in Radio Norte, 89.4FM at 20h00 (www.radionorte.com)

More as it happens.

Womad Las Palmas 2008

2008-08-08T15:49:00.004Z

Here´s the initial line-up /Cartel artístico for this years Womad in Gran Canaria 6,7,8,9 de Noviembre.

Ba Cissoko (Guinea-Conakry)
Babylon Circus (Francia)
D.WattsRiot (Reino Unido)
Darga (Marruecos)
DJ Mr Benn (Reino Unido)
DJ Yoda (Reino Unido)
El Guincho (España)
El Tío Carlos (España)
Femi Kuti (Nigeria)
Mariem Hassan (Sáhara Occidental)
Siyaya (Zimbabue)
Speed Caravan (Francia)
The F.E.O.S. (España)
Tony Allen (Nigeria)
Tulsa (España)

Mmmm.....Tony Allen, Femi Kuti, El Guincho, DJ Yoda....I know of the rest are new to me, that´s what we love about Womad, always bringing something fresh to the scenario.

The festival is free, and if you are travelling within the Canary Islands, you can get ferry tickets at a reduced fare due as the days of the festival will be considered "C-days" as in Culture, hence they got some special deal going on with the airlines and ferry companies.

DJ Yoda

I´m an everliving gobstopper, suck me forever

2008-08-04T15:59:00.011Z

El-P was on tour recently and his We Are All Going To Burn In Hell Megga Mixx2 was initially only available to those who attended the gigs. Now it´s up on the DefJux site, available as a free download, well, part of it has, in all fairness to those that shelled out ca$h for the original item.
The shit is hot as hell, no pun intended, dropped about 30minutes of it in last week´s program.
A friend recently played me a demo of something he´d put together. After a couple listens, I said, "check this, and you will get an idea of where you could go (in production terms) with your track."

Actually I only said the first part, then I don´t know what the fuck happened, but his CD got seriously stuck in the player, and I could not get it out so he could hear where I was coming from.

What El-P has does with a steel pan sample, turning it into something that would sit inside an Harlan Ellison narrative, is beyond me. Great.

I´m an everliving gobstopper, Suck me forever. El-P

Ear Conditioning / 29 July
El-P · We are all going to burn in hell megga mixx 2 (Definitive Jux)
Idris Muhammad · Wander from the Black Rhythm Revolution LP (BGP Records)
Exciting Voices · God´s Chillun
Jazmin Sullivan vs. The Moody Boyz
Roots Manuva · Again and Again / The Moody Boyz Refix
Stacey Pullen · Vertigo (Science)

This past weekend, Charlie Faber (Satelit3) , Isidro (Afrodisia) and myself turned the Txola into a sweatbox as the funk pored out of every available cell. Isidro is a serious collector of rare grooves. His box of 7´s contains the foundations of hip hop....and Charlie´s selection had me salivating too....they gots breaks for days....the kinda shit that would make DJ Premier, Pete Rock or Jay Dilla turn around to have a word or two. Charlie and I did a back to back session which spawned an idea for a Txola compilation. More news on that as it develops, talk is cheap.
Txola will be taking a well-deserved break during August, see you in September/October.

Womad Las Palmas, consistently one of the best festivals in the Canary Islands will be taking place in 6-9 November, and I have had the pleasure of being asked to do a couple sets. Womad´s Spanish producers will be going to press this Friday, so can´t say anymore than that, although this will be the second opportunity this year for people in this area to see the one and only............
More details next week.

A friend in the UK was at the recent Womad in Charlton Park, and reported of a food stall called
'Asian Grub Foundation'. Her "mate suggested 'The Dahl Foundation' and our favourite - 'Fun^Da^Lentil'."

Bass Fiction + Science Fact

2008-07-23T20:10:00.006Z

For the posse of women that hollered "More dubstep, more bass!" as I finished my set last week at Encuentro Boreal in Los Silos (pictured above)....following is Mr. Goodman aka Kode 9 talks his inspiration, motivation and friction. Congratulations are in order for his Hyperdub label as the Burial album has been shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize. It´s just some different shit....out on his own, like El Guincho.

Txola Sound Clash

2008-07-23T13:56:00.006Z

My next session at Txola will be 1 August, sharing the decks and mixer with Charlie Faber, presenter of the Sateli3 program / Radio Nacional España (RNE)
The first time i saw Charlie Faber spin, I felt like a pain in the ass, not giving the guy a chance to drink his drink, smoke his ciggie, select his nex´ tune...I was constantly asking
"What tune is this?"
"Who is this?"
"And this one?"

He has got a huge trunk of funk, rock n´ roll, good ole party music. He is a bad motherfucker.

The above video courtesy of Loquepasatenerife.

A Whale of a Time

2008-07-14T20:00:00.011Z

I don´t give a toss if they i.D. Banksy. His art is important, not his image.

The Bug: the London Zoo album is getting great reviews in the UK music press. The Observer Music Monthly review comes with "But it's in daring to ask the big questions like 'How did we get here, and where do we go now?' that this record's rage-filled exuberance evokes the spirit of such classic state-of-the-world addresses as Specials, Marvin Gaye's What's Going On and Black Flag's Damaged." Yeah, i´d say impressive.

A couple week-ends ago was the Eolica Festival. The issue surrounding Eolica is the environment. As we entered the scenario we received a little portable ashtray, and I thought, ´cool, good idea´, that scores points. The location is on a wind turbine site in the south of the island, and the power generated by the turbines runs the stages, sound etc. Well, I thought it was, until I saw a generator pumping out the usual diesel fumes...oops, losing points already?

I played on the first night, an"improved" (their words) , Asian Dub Foundation headlined, previewing tracks from their new album Punkara as well as serving up classic material. They did sound better with their new vocalists, more mature than the previous two, one of which was an arrogant shit....i know from personal experience, when they came as a sound system a few years back.

Morodo, a reaggae outfit from Barcelona, I think, over-played their set as if they was the gigamegadon, driving people away with boredom plastered to their faces. All this after being in Madrid, when he shoulda been in Tenerife for his soundcheck. The first band hit the stage three hours behind schedule. One thing really missing from festivals in Tenerife, is a stage manager, one that knows what the job entails and how to do it.
"Stage manager? ask for Maria" pseudoym
Asked for Maria, "You the stage manager?"
"Uh....uh...I am half stage manager. Want do you want? "
Methinks, "Half?"
Asked for a beer, and a chair for the records.....didn´t see her again.

I eventually got behind the decks a bit after five am, and heaped spoonfuls of Iraqi choubi, Maghrebi, darabooka, tabla solo, nu-whirl breakbeat business before the clock struck six.

Curfew, no one said anything about a curfew!
What do you mean 10 minutes?, I´ve only just started! (40 minutes earlier)
I ain´t been able to bring out the futuredubstep bass jewellry yet!
We need to hear that shit coming through this massive system ya got!

Aguaviva Festival...pffft!
My bird-watching man and avid nature-lover friend Juan Jo (see below also) turned Ayoze of the the AguaViva festival people onto me to dj next to the NGO tent. Ayoze called me up, set up dates, then i got passed onto the booker, Alby.

He and I made an agreement that I would be paid after my second set.
When the time came, was he anywhere to be found? Nope!
Would he answer his mobile? Nope!

Knowing that I had a flight to Sweden immediately after my set, Alby ignored my calls and texts until I sent him a third text asking him if he treated all his artists like this? Fuckin´hell, that got his attention, as he replied "Have some respect!" Yes, Alby, you are one to talk. You paid Jamiriaqua (spell check ain´t working) in advance and you can´t even pay me my little monies as agreed.

Thanks to Ayoze from the production company, and Walter, they went all out to help me get paid.

Via magazine (Tenerife) has refused to run a review of the AguaViva Festival proper - not the NGO tent event - penned by Javi Jiminez because he lambasted the festival organization and of course, the magazine can´t bite the hand that serves up ca$h, so that´s it, my man has quit the magazine. Real shame, although it was kinda trendy hi-brow, glam, it had good photography, class images, interesting articles, bi-lingual to a degree, and it was good that Javi was able to contribute to their music coverage. He avoided the obvious stuff that it covered day in day out. I came across the magazine at the airport, and inside was a positive review of a Little Axe album. I was glad to see that somebody down this way had cottoned on to what Skip was doing with Little Axe. I met Javi about eighteen months later. He´s the one that brought El Guincho to town a few months back. Oh, El Guinch´t....he´s had to pull out of his summer dates in North America due to exhaustion. The few months have been full on for him. Hope your reading Future Music in bed Pablo.

Fun-da-mental played the 1st Internationalist Youth Resistance Festival in Greece last weekend. I went out a day early, and good thing too, Ojos de Brujo Sound System were also on the bill, so we hooked up at the studio of Iman Baildi for a little refreshment, (it was 33 degrees) and recording of ODB claps and me abusing the ears of the engineer, shouting into the mic.

The festival was organized by the communist brothers and sisters of KOE. Discussions, debates, events featuring people from Nepal, Bolivia, Haiti, Greece, Venezuela. Leila Khaled was supposed to be there, but the Israeli government prevented her from travelling, so a direct phone link was arranged as an alternative.

It was also the first festival whose portaloo´s were illuminated at night. Normally you wouldn´t want a light in there anyway, but this was real clean, hence no rim-ridding stinking mass was present to be highlighted.

Back home, full moon Friday was an event presented by the Fundacion Global Nature, that the aforementioned JuanJo is involved with. That guy has my back for sure, no? This week was the unveiling of a whale skeleton reconstructed with metal work support. I was told there are only five skeletons of this species, and not all of them are open to the public either, so if ya get the chance, the coast of Los Silos should be on your mind.

2 MC´s and 1 DJ under the name Demencia Lírica provided the old´skool flow & beats to a sparse crowd but appreciative crowd, bless ´em.

After I was done, a female voice, "..more dubstep, something with bass!"

It was true, it was one of the very few events where they had a system that could handle weight.

Been slack on the playlist front, if you´ve read this far you´ll understand why...

The program for this Tuesday is looking like this:
Radio Norte 89.4FM Online here could it be true?

Nubian Mindz · Urban Beats (Archive) / Trippy filtered slow moving
Max Roach · Absolutions (Atlantic) I don´t possess the vocabulary to express myself about this
Humbucker · Cincinnati Hawks (Klein) / 70´s NYC funk. Stuck right up your nostrils.
Boom Bip · Enjoy eating the diane musson´s hand (MUSH) Great use of Marvin Gaye music
Boom Bip · Doo doo science - Once again, great use of a sample, this time of the great purple one.
The Clash · Death is a Star (CBS) Delicate and sincere.
Sabu Martinez and his Jazz-espagnole · The Oracle - What was it like when you first heard him?
Gaby Novak · Caravan (Cosmic Sounds London) - Great jazz recordings saved from the rubbish.
Big Band RTS · Ne ga se prodavaj (Cosmic Sounds London) - As above, saved, and we are lucky.
Cymande · Crawshay (Sequel) I don´t play them enough!
Fourth World · Serra Do Relogio · London Elektricity remix (Melt)
Fourth World · Trip to the Fourth World · 4Hero remix (Melt) No let up from the Dollis Hill crew
Fourth World · Terra Mae · Nation World Service remix (Melt) When asked to do a remix that is also gonna feature IG Culture, BT, Herbalizer and the above, London Elek´ and 4Hero...your shit has got to be tight! We did it Rich!

Ear Conditioning · Jazz Absolutions
July 22 20h - 21h
Radio Norte 89.4FM Online here could it be true?

Adventures in Negro History

2008-06-27T12:40:00.008Z

It´s been a lot of work, sweat, sleepless nights, having to deal with 60 year-old junkies shooting up outside the studio door, human excrement by the lift....fitting I suppose for an album titled London Zoo.

If your going to be in London at the beginning of August, and you like your beats hard like two day old shit, and lyrics flowing like the Amazon, head over to the album launch party at Brixton´s Mass venue. Also on the bill, Flying Lotus, Kode 9, Spaceape, Warrior Queen, Ricky Ranking and Tippa Irie. That´s a line-up that just makes ya piss don´t it?!

Last week´s program included five tracks from the album, plus a joint and a beat from the latest effort from The Roots, a fav´ of the BugMan.

Started the program with KRS-One´s classic, Sound of the Police. We´ll ya would if like me, you were heading to work then got pulled over by the men in military-blue. The first one told me to take the keys out and put them on the dashboard, all this with his hand on his gun. Another one stood in the middle of the street with shotgun in hand.

Where do they think they are? This ain´t Killadelphia, this is La Laguna, Tenerife for fucksakes!
Okay, so over to the pavement we go. Asked to get everything out my pockets, cool, I gotta get to work, so let´s get this over done quickly, so I can get to the club.

While checking out my id, I speak to myself, "What kinda manner is this they got going on?" Over comes 6" 3" steroid maximus cop, also fingering his weapon ("Skeng!"), nose to mine, "You are not permitted to speak English" or words to that effect.

So ya now know, it´s illegal to quietly speak to one´s self in English when being searched / harassed by the Spanish pigs.

In compliance with steroid maximus´ arrogance, I closed my mouth and put my hands in my pockets....may as well play some pocket-pool while waiting. Even that, a passive wank brought the steroid-hungry animal over again, all up in my face, trying to provoke me so he would have an excuse to beat me to a fucking pulp. No mate, I´m not playing your fucking game.
It´s people like this steroid junkie that put me off from joining the police force when I was in Toronto. I was actually naive enough to think that I would be able to make a change in police attitudes, fool me!

In the end they gave me a ticket / warning for having a knife in the car.....yep, the knife that we bought the day before when we went to the beach, so we could make sandwiches...yeah, you know, to cut the bread, tomatoes etc.

The lesson to be learned? Throw away any item that could be a weapon immediately after use, or better still, don´t buy it, leave it in the shop, and use yer teeth like you was in the Stone Age.
Don´t speak English, and don´t play pocket pool as it could unleash a wrath upon you like you have never seen.

The clip below is from last years demonstration against the Unipol (Intervention police unit in Santa Cruz Tenerife) after some of them beat the living shit outta a teenager. The pork-unit said he fell off his scooter while trying to evade a spot-check. The kid musta had one of them scooters fitted with a Harley-turbo engine, ´cos his face coulda been used as an airship for those above the stadium shots during the Euro2008 football championships. I really think that coulda so easily been me.

Ear Conditioning Playlist 24 June

KRS-One · Sound of the Police (Jive)
NWA · Express Yourself (4th & Broadway)
SuperCat · Scalp Dem / Wu-Tang Remix featuring Method Man (Columbia)
Public Enemy · 98 Posse (DefJam)
The Roots · @15 (DefJam)

The Bug featuring FlowDan & Killa P · Skeng
Keith LeBlanc: Technology Works
The Bug featuring Tippa Irie · Angry
The Bug featuring Ricky Ranking · Too Much Pain
Lenny Bruce: Gee, all you people can tap-dance
The Bug featuring Spaceape · Fuckaz
The Bug featuring Roger Robinson · You & Me

Filastine · La Muerte (Soot)
Cauto · Bona Vida (Dutty Artz)
Skream & Cluekid · Sandsnake (Disfigured Dubs)
Negitiveland: Helter Stupid
Mala· Left Leg Out (DMZ)

Pixies · Planet of Sound (4AD)
Tubby T · "Title ? / Photek Remix
John Cusack: "If your not going to become politically active in 2008, I don´t know when your are going to!"
Miles Davis · The Pan Piper (CBS)
Burial · Ghost Hardware (Hyperdub)
Altered Beats featuring DJ Rob Swift & Liu Sola · Ancient Style (Palm Pictures)

Reporter turns Ghetto in 3 seconds

2008-06-23T14:36:00.002Z

Man dear, did this ever make me temporarily forget about the dickhead cops that I had to deal with on the way to work last Friday.

15th Century behaviour

2008-06-20T10:52:00.010Z

Last weekend was the Clandestino Festival in Gothenburg, Sweden. Elements within the Swedish government are very keen to promote themselves as being friends of Africa. Trade, cultural exchanges, financial assistance etc. are pinned on their chests to say "aren´t we good?" When it came to issuing Konono No.1 visas for their appearance at Clandestino, the western superiority complex reared it´s ugly head, and visas were denied. They weren´t convinced Konono No.1 were a legitimate group, and the chances of members of this group would most probably not return home and would live off Swedish benefits ´til their dying days.

Unfortunatley another no show was El Guincho, he was hospitalized and was in no condition to perform.

On the positive, DJ Mutamassik´s set got Aleksander Motturi, the head of Clandestino, breakdancin´and poppin´.
With the controls set at full steam, leading up to the release in two weeks of the new album, London Zoo, The Bug and Warrior Queen turned up the heat with a set of blistering EQ-riding dancehall business, and Ghislain Poirier dropped a special Swedish language mash-up on the audience that was a welcome surprise. I love it when artists deliver something that is close to the hearts and minds of the local audience, it shows thought and dedication to one´s craft.

My dj-set was a fight against the Sweden vs. Spain Euro2008 football match. The stage became sandwiched between a giant TV screen around the corner and another screen inside the venue. I thought I was on the losing side, but there were enough people there to enjoy the nu-whirl sounds and daytime bass-line movements. Much thanks to Amir Sulaiman, Karin, Cecilia and the countless others that dropped by with dance movements, inspiration, smiles and comments.

A big shit to Alby, the booker for the AguaViva Festival who ignored my phone calls when it came time to get paid. Alby knew damn well I was heading to Sweden immediately after the AguaViva set and we had agreed I would be paid as soon as I finished. It seems that artists based in the Canary Islands are always the last to get paid. Hey Alby, was Jamiroquai okay with you paying them later? Hell no, you ass-wipe, you paid them upfront!

I had to change planes in Copenhagen to get to Gothenburg, so checked out the well stocked bookshop at CPH and bought Bad Men; Guantanamo Bay and The Secret Prisons by Clive Stafford Smith. This is the 21st century, somebody best tell those motherfuckers in Washington and Whitehall, ´cos what they advocate belongs back in the Middle Ages. Men having their penis repeatedly slashed with razor blades, being hung by their arms for hours on end, dislocating their shoulders, not being allowed to sleep, constant bright light throughout the night. The beatings continue while I read that British Foreign Minister, David Miliband thinks the civilized world should do something about Robert Mugabe. True, David, true, and while your at it.....
It´s good to see Massive Attack using the Meltdown platform they have to highlight the plight of the Guantánamo detainee´s.

Speaking of activism+politricks etc., the latest addition to the Guevara Convention is now up.
Filastine has given us La Muerte, inspired by the work and unfortunate death of Brad Will. Brad
was in Oaxaca, Mexico videotaping the teachers' strike when gunmen opened fire. Will was shot twice and died while he was being carried away from the area. Along with Will, two protesters – Esteban Zurita López and teacher Emilio Alonso Fabián – were also killed. The snare sound in the track is one of the shots fired at Brad just before he was killed.

Next week´s program will feature music from Amir, The Bug, The Roots, Flying Lotus and whatever else I picked up last week. You know where to find me. Have a safe week, and we will catch up after the jump....or if you make down to Txola, La Laguna tonight, I´ll be there from midnight to three.
Peace.

Ear Conditioning Playlist 17 June2008

Artist Unknown · Oh mother, the handsome man tortures me / From Choubi Choubi, folk and pop from Iraq (Sublime Frequencies)
Sadum Jabir · Ashhad Biannak Hilou aka I admit you are beautiful / From Choubi Choubi, folk and pop from Iraq(Sublime Frequencies)
Fathay Salama · Maqsoon featuring live cuts by DJ Mutamassik
Freeform Arkestra · Freeform Theme (Straight Ahead)
Seji · Second Nature (Bitasweet)
Afronaught featuring Tittla · Work It (Apollo)
Cutty Ranks · Who Seh Me Dun / Wake de Man (TVT)
London Elektricity · Rewind (Hospital)
Bo Diddley · Powerhouse (Checker)
Parliament · Moonshine Heather (Invictus)
Funkadelic · Hardcore Jollies (Warner Brothers)
The Black Dog · Psit-Cosyin (Warp)

The Ear Conditioning radio thing goes out on Radio Norte, Tenerife 89.4FM Tuesday 20h - 21h

Ralph Bakshi / Coonskin

2008-06-09T00:37:00.005Z

Miss America / From Ralph Bakshi´s Coonskin.

Now who did i lend the video to?

Gotta a friend here who doesn´t lend any books, dvd/video/cd´s to nobody, never, ever, final.
Don´t blame her.

One Big Orgy, No One´s Taking A Bath

2008-06-08T17:19:00.011Z

Had an itch to scratch, reached for Masters of the 1 & 2 : History´s Greatest DJ´s. This comp´features the likes of Premier, MixMaster Mike, Qbert, GrandWizard Theodore, Cut Chemist, Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five. Top selection, and unbelievably it´s got something to do with MTV?! I got this record when working at Virgin Records, and around this time, the Chemical Brothers had a new album out, and for their upcoming London show they brought the father of hip hop Kool Herc and Grand Wizard Theodore from NYC to open their gig, nice manoeuver fellas! That gig was a history lesson right there at Brixton Academy.

Back to the album, also some good liner notes from Stones Throw man, Peanut Butter Wolf, whose musical contribution to the album I rinsed for the program as well as that of Coldcut.
Not on the album, but coulda been, Public Enemy and Terminator X...oohh yeah, they just performed their classic album It Takes a Nation of Millions....´ as part of the Don´t Look Back series in the UK last week. The Bomb Squad, the Shocklee Brothers also made an appearance at those gigs.....damn!!! Photos of that show and the DMZ-sponsored jam at Third Base party are here courtesy of Ashes 57.

The program of June 10th has also got some deckwerk from Agzilla who hailed outta the Ronin/23Skidoo family....check it if yer inclinded. Back to last week....

Filastine has sent me over a contribution for the Guevara Convention online compilation that we have going on over at Ear Conditioning website. The track, La Muerte, features an very interesting snare sound. I should have the track uploaded by week´s end, then you can see for yourself what I´m talking/writing about.

Ear Conditioning · June 3 Playlist

Eardrum · City Collision (Leaf)
Tabla Beat Science · Audiomaze (Palm)
Taking of Pelham 123 Soundtrack · Main Title / Music by David Shire
Peanut Butter Wolf feat. DJ Design · Showtime at The Dump (Priority)
Coldcut · Beats and Pieces (Live in Koln) (Priority)
Public Enemy · Terminator X at the Edge of Panic (Def Jam)
Prince Charming · We bouncin couch, on the slouch for the pouch (Wordsound)
Subversion · Evil (FutureDub)
Reverend Wright on Bill Moyers · The Sermon (NPR)
Loefah · Disko Rekah (Deep Medi Musik)
Goth-Trad · Cut End (Deep Medi Musik)
Burial · Southern Comfort (Hyperdub)
King L. Man · The Aziz Vistation (Ear Con CD-r)
Filastine · La Muerte (Filastine pre-)
Himalayan Atmosphere · Mautias at Gaumulch / From the Source of the Ganges (Virgin Classic)
Luke Vibert & BJ Cole · Party Animal (Law & Auder)
The Taking of Pelham 123 · The Taking / Music by David Shire
Fun-da-mental · Che Bin Pt.1 (5Uncivilized Tribes)
Martides del Compás · Canne Canne

Ear Conditioning · June 10 Playlist

The folks at Dutty Artz, as usual have been pointing the way to gems of the sonic persuasion. ´Hurry On Now´ by Alice Russell and the Sonidero Nacional remix of Juliete Venegas´ ´Eres Para Mi´.

Also indebted to /rupture for putting out a 12" of Mutamassik, the NYC-based Egyptian producer. I´ve tried to keep tabs on her sharp-edged break workouts. The previous link takes you to info about her forthcoming album That Which Death Cannot Destroy She´ll be taking part in the Clandestino Festival which takes place in Gothenburg, Sweden next weekend. Also among the artists at Clandestino will be Bassekou Kauyote, El Guincho, The Bug and Warrior Queen, Ghislain Poirier, Konono No. 1, Amir Sulaiman, La Mala (hey Jace, La Mala!), Abi-Shanti, Echodek to name a few. I´ll be there on Saturday, and hopefully Mr. Martin will have a copy of his London Zoo album for me to share with the radio people and night-stalkers here and there. There is an mpfree of ´Fukkaz´ from The Bug circulating on the internets. This tune is voiced by The Spaceape, who comes with a different style as one has come used to in his Kode 9 work. He is well pissed off, and rightly so. Sorry I can´t remember the link for the download of Fukkaz, but it ain´too far from your fingertips.

June 12-13, I will be spinning at the Expo that is part of AquaViva Festival here in Tenerife. The Expo will be hosting a tent for various NGO´s, one of which recommended me for the gig. My thanks to you JuanJo and collegues. The decks will be mine from 18h00 to 22h00. With this enviromentally minded festival upon us, 4Hero ´Loveless´ fit the bill. Ms. Rucker recites as if she was Mother Earth riding on the phattest of phat contrabass rhythm:

Watch my foolish daughters and sons As the kill me Slowly, kill me Quicker, kill me

They loved me as would an unfaithful lover, part-time and and half-assed.

Such beauty in life, you will never have again.

The same goes for Privatize The Air from the OnU Sound family.

What a shit week for the families of Bo Diddley and Canarian timple maestro José Antonio Ramos. Bo Diddley was The Man, you know that, I´ve got one album of his (not enough, I know) but it does the job, The Black Gladiator. While I was putting this program together I got a nod from Dr. Das collaborator/producer/remixer Ramjac that his latest radio stream was featuring the Dr. Diddley. I mentioned that I had this album, and his response was thru the roof!

José Antonio Ramos was only thirty-eight when his heart gave out. He was the don of the timple, the small guitar that is synominous, synonimous...uhm, synonymous with the Canary Islands. I recently met him at a discussion and I asked him about possibly collaborating on some music.....he developed a midi-linked timple, so I knew he was somebody that would be open to stretching things. On the day of his passing a friend who works at the culture department of a town council called José´s management to confirm some flight details and the voice on the end of the phone was like "Haven´t you heard?¨
The Canaries have lost a true brother and teacher.

Pete Rock & CL Smooth · TROY (They Remin Over You) (Atlantic)
Richard Pryor · Pussy (Warners)
Agzilla Tha Deck Wrecker · DubStar/Dedication (Ronin)
Juliete Venegas featuring Anita Tijoux · Eres para mi / Sonidero Nacional Cumbow remix
Mapei · Night / Buraka Som Sistema remix
Alice Russell · Hurry On Now / Boub remix
Mutamassik · Doun Doun / The Crux
The Bug featuring The Spaceape · Fukkaz (Ninja Tune)
Gary Clail / On U Sound System featuring Andy Fairley · Privatise the Air (OnU Sound)
Mark Stewart + The Maffia · Strange Things Happen remix (Mute)
4Hero featuring Ursula Rucker · Loveless (Talkin´Loud)
Elixir · Trapdoor To Another Life · (Quartermass)
DJ Spooky · The Last Element (Asphodel)

Ear Conditioning goes out on Radio Norte / Tenerife 89.4FM
Tuesday 20h - 21h
Repeated Saturday 23h - 24h

The Txola / Festival Musicalia Experience

2008-05-29T16:45:00.010Z

Last weekend was a busy one in the town/city of La Laguna; Txola Bar on the Friday night, and
the Festival Musicalia the following night. Txola was pumping.....they ran out of beer/cerveza. Pedro, el jefe de Txola has got some plans for some special events in August/Octubre, so keep an eye open...abries un ojo. The folks at Musicalia magazine (Estrella, Pino, Presi Nacho,Urena...que mas?) alongside Dani El Shiva Azul Medina brought La Kinky Beat from Barcelona to deliver their brand of rock·jungle·reggae sounds with force and kinetic energy. Local crew Tropico28 stepped up with their new line-up to give a taster of their forthcoming album, which I have been told should surface in two weeks. I did contribute to a song for their album, but their producer/beat-man did a runner with the files when he left the group, so who knows what the hell he´s done with them! Oh, i´m digressing....back to Musicalia Festival....the idea was to raise money for the next issue of the magazine, it has no advertising you see. Hopefully they will have got a few euros together, although I do think they had the price of the beer was a bit low....a bargain, one euro!
A very good deal, and it was free entrance. I don´t think people are really aware of the difficulties that exist trying to put on a festival of this magnitude...dealing with the council, a sexist and incompetent sound company.....then there´s the matter of posters being ripped and defaced by supporters of the Platano Rock festival that was taking place the same day in Santa Cruz. Come on people.....there ain´t no need for that shit, grow the fuck up. I was sorry to hear that the Platano Rock festival was cancelled at the last minute because of some bureaucratic police nonsense. GAF ,who I really like were due to take the stage, as were Marvel Hill, but the police, miserable fuckers seemed to be working on somebody else´s behalf who doesn´t like gigs happening if he ain´t a part of it or getting paid. Yes, it´s like that in these parts....fuckin´ third world shit going on here brothers and sisters.

The weekend before last, Fun-da-mental did a show in Prague. Always nice to be in Prague, we just don´t get to spend any proper time there.....pisses me right off! Before parting ways at the airport, bassman Lloyd gave me his copy of Naomi Klein´s latest book The Shock Doctrine. Fucking put me in a right mood. I know enough about what goes on, but jesus h ucking hell....unts like Bush, Dick ´So´ Cheney, Condoskeeza Rice, Rumsfeld, are worse than I thought....and that is real Bad. In all seriousness, they should be fucking made to walk around Baghdad totally naked and left to their own devices for a few hours, then publicly hanged, shot, pissed and shat upon, then burned alive for good measure. No need to privatize the killing, totally open to the public....a real public service. I am deadly serious. That ´Let God sort them out´stuff is bollocks. Kill them NOW, let t! I hate to pray for bad things to happen to people, but they deserve it, and you know it! Those motherfuckers have been preying on the weak and defenseless for too long, and they´ll go down in history as great figures too....you watch.

Change the channel.

Yes, The Bug album is going to be released in July, and the title is, as I hoped, London Zoo...very appropriate. This person is doing the album artwork. Next single will be featuring Tippa Irie on one side and FlowDan pon the flip. Can you handle it?! Soon see eh?

Before I split, if your into Cumbia check out Vampiros DJ....I did, bought me a couple CD´s one from him, and the other being the Sonido Martines mix he did for DJ /Rupture´s radio program last year. I´ ve been really trying to turn people onto the rebajadas sound.....it´s lively, fresh, and represents what is going on in the Southern hemishere. I have a radio interview at Radio Club Tenerife tomorrow (Friday at 11am) they want to talk about mixing Canarian folklore music with contemporary sounds, and methinks what Vampiros, El Hijo de la Cumbia, Sonido, Oro 11 etc., and without a doubt, El Guincho, are very good markers as to what is possible. More as it happens.

Ear Conditioning / 27 mayo
DJ Food · Valves / Journeyman remix (Ninja Tune)
Badawi · Bedouin Raid (Asphodel)
Amir Sulaiman · Danger
Overtone · Give It Again (Rosebud)
Os Campiones · Dos (Sou Jazz)
Afronaught · Golpe Tuyo Calinda (Bitasweet)
Naomi Klein · Shock Doctrine
Stereotyp featuring Edu K & Joyce Muniz · Jece Valadáo (MAN Recordings)
Megablast · El Ninjo / Luv Lite Massive Remix feat. DJ Collage (Stereo Deluxe)
Stereotyp (?) · Police and Soldier (Giguptight)
Music from the Ivory Coast · Gueglo (Radio France)
Congo Natty · Jungle Souljah (Congo Natty)

Vamprios DJ · Selection from La Sonidera Colombiana Mix CD
La chancha via circuito / Oro 11 · Damas Gratis Dub
Sonido Martines · Cumbia ron the Bronx
El Hijo de la Cumbia · Cumbia de los barrios
El Hijo de la Cumbia · Mara Tomaza
Karos · Por que te quiero

DJ Food · Scratch yer Head (Ninja Tune)
Murga Las Salamanquesas · Himno (Gofio)
Murga Ni Quito Ni Pongo · Pout -Purri (Gofio)
Rude Hi-Fi . Elzn in Dub
Zapotec Indians · Firework Music (Folkways)
Yaqui Indians · Deer Dance (Folkways)
Bio-Muse · Hurrey Hurra
Coki · The End (dmz)
Rusko · Cockney Thug
The Bug feat. FlowDan · Jah War /Loefah remix (Ninja Tune)
The Bug featuring Warrior Queen · Poison Dart (Ninja Tune)
Kode 9 · Stung (Soul Jazz)

Ear Conditioning at Radio Norte 89.4FM
Tuesday / martes 20h00
Repetidos sabado / repeated Saturday 23h00
! Tropico Photo by Encarneviva
Thanks to Arka/Tropico28 for the radio link

Dub, Instrumentals, Refixes and so on..

2008-05-08T15:44:00.006Z

Ear Conditioning

This weeks program (May 6) was put together by 8 Islas Sistema Sonido. Sixty minutes of reggae, dancehall and such. I don´t have a tracklisting yet, but should it surface, I will share.
In the meanwhile, following is the playlist from last weeks (April 29) sonic adventure....lots of space with dub and instrumental versions flowing, a couple comedians thrown in to take the edge off, plus a handful of remixes.

For those who are new to Canarian music, I kicked off the program with Silbo Gomero, a language of whistling that people on the island of La Gomero use(d) to communicate with each other in the mountainous terrain. Words have been turned into an understandable whistle form...yes, amazing.

Speaking of Canarian music, well the El Guincho show here two weeks ago, caused enough ruptions on some of the online forums in Tenerife. There seem to be plenty haters here, people saying he..s all hype, but those that know, know that ain..t the truth. His concert was marred by rough monitor sound on-stage which threw him off course for a bit, but he pulled through, and had enough people shuffling and bobbing about. What killed me was people complaining about how repetitive or boring they found it.....while they were dancing. Methinks some people just like to complain for the sake of opening their mouth. I have been acting as a co-curator of the Clandestino Festival in Sweden, and really look forward to getting another dose in a few weeks....yep, one of the first things I proposed was the ..Guinch... His remix of Architecture in Helsinki is on the cumbia tip, which fits nicely with the following DJ Negro material that I..ve really been eating up. Oh, Blind Idiot God are back!

Playlist

Iaso Sayo · Siete Estrellas (ZetaRecords)
Creation Rebel · Starship Africa / Space Movements 1 (On-U)
Richard Pryor · Africa (Warners)
African Head Charge · You Learn (On-U)
Jimmy´s Chant · DJ Tools (Indigenous Resistance)
Supersoul · So Real So True
Coki · The End (dmz)
Blind Idiot God · Major Key Dub (Enemy)
Kid 606 · Attitude (TigerBeat6)
Manolo Vieira · Economista (Clodmodel)
Sofa Surfers · Raffinere (Klein)
Tigerstyle · El Tiburon
Fun-da-mental · Red Light Tabla (Nation)
Amit · Swaztika (Commercial Suicide)
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan meets State Of Bengal (realworld)
Roots Manuva · Colossal Insight / Jamma Refix (Big Dada)
David Toop & John Zorn · Chen Pe I Pe / Ocean of Sound compilation (Virgin)
Thom Yorke · Harrowdown Hill / The Bug refix (XL)
Kode 9 + The SpaceApe · Konfusion (HyperDub)
Architecture in Helsinki · Like It Or Not / El Guincho Remix
DJ Negro · Cumbia Callejera
Reverend Wright · The Government Lied
Yellow Magic Orchestra · Pong Too / The Orb Remix

For more of the same and different, I will be playing once every two weeks at Txola, La Laguna, starting this Friday May 9th. If your in the area, say hello, I don´t bite....unless your name is Talvin Singh and yer gonna fuck with the record thats spinnin´.

Musicalia Festival

2008-04-25T08:20:00.002Z

Musicalia magazine from La Palma are presenting a festival with La Kinky Beat from Barcelona, local ragga-drum n´ bass outfit Tropico28, and music workshops with Tenerife´s favourite percussionist, Nani. Saturday 24 May in La Laguna.
The lastest issue of Musicalia is out now and features articles on Afel Boucoum, Rachid Taha and an interview with myself. The interviewer did say that some of the things i said could prevent me from getting certain gigs in the future. We´ll let the powers that be decide that then shall we? Much thanks to the Musicalia team; Estrella, Pino, Presidente Nacho, Urena, Dani SV.

No cockblocking please....

2008-04-24T08:42:00.009Z

No cockblocking please.....eh?
Cockblocking is a term that refers to ´hindering a male as he attempts to get it on with a female´.
In my instance it refers to someone hindering my attempts to get some work. Fuck sakes, last week I had a little rant about some promoters being dickheads for not properly compensating DJ´s for their work...now I got fellow DJ´s giving attitude over sharing the decks, like they own the fucking club or something. No wonder things don´t progress in this motherfucker....and to think i was went into the situation with open arms with thoughts of trying to build something here with other DJ´s. Fuck it, just gotta get on with it, and try and rise above the bullshit which seems to be at an all-time high.

Back in the real world, an investigative report revealed the how TV military analysts have a vested economic interest in selling the Bush adminstrations happy talk about Iraq. In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism overGuantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded “the gulag of our times” by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure. So the Bush administration went into overdrive, a damage control exercise that got together ´experts´ to hit the TV airwaves to defend their state of action...."Yep, let´s push forward this war agenda while making mad loot." This world is fucking insane, and what am i doing, playing records on a weekly basis, like it´s gonna do somethin´? I apologize.

Last week several men in the UK were found guilty of financially aiding and inciting terrorism, and sentenced to between two and four and a half years in prison. Eh, inciting terrorism? Everybody knows who encourages terrorism, and who is helping to swell the ranks of Al-Qaeda etc, but do they face the judge and jury? People who have incited an illegal and immoral war are suggested to be presidents of Europe and receive very well paying jobs while the common man has to take it whole, even if it doesn´t fit and tears the sides and leaves him bleeding....motherfuckers.

This weeks program featured some new joints to my ears even if they be released years ago. David Byrne´s excellent Luaka Bop continues to give joy, as i came across Asia Classics 1, Vijaya Anand....a man whose name means "victory" and "ecstacy". His music, mainly composed for films is the stuff that will keep ya going aaaaaaallllllll night long, jazzy brass, synths, hypnotic vocals, off-key quirks, the whole nine.
The well-loved El Guincho is here this weekend for the Ecos festival, his first show in the Canaries, the place of his birth, so it´s very timely that his remix of Like it or Not, by Architecture in Helsinki, was made available via mp3 this week. I have the pleasure of doing a set ahead of him...thanks to Javi at the Culture Dept. in La Laguna for arranging this event. Also on the bill, Echo and the Bunnymen and The Mistake.

The first time I heard Squarepusher it threw my mind into a frenzied state....it was ´Conumber´, then i was lucky to see him play at a Ninja Tune night in Hoxton Square in London...him, his bass and a drum machine. Hot as a pig on a spit! Ah, the good ole days....are set to continue.

See you at Ecos 08 then, like i´ve said before, it´s free, so ya got no excuse....action begins around 8.30, and i´ll be doing two sets, one before Echo and The Bunnymen, and the other after them.

Ear Conditioning Playlist 22.04
King L Man · Dear God - The Aziz Mian Visitation (Ear Conditioning)
Kode 9 · Konfusion Dub (Hyperdub)
The Bug featuring FlowDan / Loefah remix (NinjaTune)
Burial · South London Boroughs (Hyperdub)
Paradox · A Black Sun (Archive)
Ghislain Poirier featuring Radioactive · Propaganda (Rebondir)
Vijaye Anand · Desire Soars Up High (Luaka Bop)
Jepp · Superglue Low (Hut)
Architecture in Helsinki · Like It or Not / El Guincho remix (Mistletone mp3)
Mikey Dread · Saturday Night Style
Supacat & WuTang · Scalp Dem / Congo Natty remix?
Squarepusher · Conumber (Spymania)
Radar · Antimatter (Ohm)
Buckwheat Zydeco · Hey Joe (Charisma)
Emiliana Torrini · Dead Things (One Little Indian)

Ear Conditioning is broadcast via Radio Norte 89.4FM Tenerife, every Tuesday at 20h00, and repeated Saturday 21h00. www.radionorte.com

Promoters and Farts

2008-04-17T16:46:00.004Z

Here in Tenerife, the idea that one´s only job is that of a musician / dj is something beyond comprehension.
"No, what is your real job?"
"That´s what is do."
It appears that most dj´s here do it as a hobby, and so many promoters/venues pay them as such.
"Come and play for fun."
Fun don´t pay the bills homie.
"Come and play for four hours and i´ll give you 30€"

I recently met a man who owns an Indian restaurant in Santa Cruz, and he waxed un-interuppted on for over half an hour about money, money, money, and how his brother recently bought a flat/apartment that used to belong to Paul McCartney. (Yes, he did tear up the floorboards hoping to find an old manuscript.) But I digress...."So, could you dj in my restaurant?" he asked.
That wouldn´t be a problem, I responded.
"What´s your fee?"
"200€ minimum normally, but i´m flexible, we can negogiate"
"Uh.... do you know how much I pay my normal dj"
"Yes, I can imagine"

Another dj/promoter recently asked if i would play his party. Sure, no problem, this is my fee.
He never bothered to reply to my email, which is weird cos he recently did an interview where he said dj´s should stick together, and not play for less than 200€, so promoters would respect us, and not take us for granted. Seems my man has a bad case of amnesia. There is an expression here for people that talk more than they should....His farts are bigger than their ass. Fitting.

Oh yeah, the postcard that´s at the top...well, picked that up on a visit to Belgrade a few years back. Found it recently, and put it up on myspace, where it lasted about 24 hours before they removed it, said it violated their terms, as it was either obscene, sexually explicit or violent.
I´m still trying to figure out which. The image refers to Serbian sentiments that they have been fucked over by the US in some way. It was explained to me that before NATO went in, there were laws that gave Serbian workers x amount of percentage and say in the companies they worked for. When NATO went in, these rules went out, and also they all of a sudden became recipients of foreign loans which they did not require, but were forced upon them, hence they now had a foreign debt which was something new to them. Before the Yank/Nato incursion they did not have a foreign debut, didn´t owe a single bean to the IMF etc. Kinda like Iraq, and how Paul Bremmer changed Iraqi rules and opened the gates to foreign corporate takeover. Fuckin´cuntz.

Yep, and now sports....I´ll be spinning at the ECOS 08 event, which is bringing Echo & The Bunnymen and El Guincho to town next week. Also on the bill is The Mistake, and I´ll be sharing the decks with the legendary Pili Txola. It´s free, so all you in the Tenerife zone, venga!
All the action is taking place at the University of La Laguna campus.

Ear Conditioning 15.04 / Radio Norte

The Roots · Da Lesson / Instrumental (Geffen)
High & Mighty feat. Mos Def & Mad Skillz / accapella (Rawkus)
J-Star vs. Mutamassik
Prince Fatty · Fe Fi Fo Fum (Anvil)
Rustrillos · Pendejo (Producciones PYP)
Red Snapper feat. MC Det · The Sleepless /Shut Up and Dance refix (Warp)
Malcolm McLaren & The World Famous Supreme Team Show / Would Ya Like More Scratchin?
Taking of Pelham 123 Soundtrack · Blue Green Money
Malcolm X · Taxes
Atmosphere · They All Get Mad (Rhymesayers)
Fugazi · Waiting Room (Dischord)
Pixies · Crackity Jones (4AD)
Pixies · La La Love You (4AD)
Poison Idea · We Got The Beat (American Leather/Vinyl Solution)
Bong Ra · Murder You
Shut Up & Dance / The Green Man (Shut Up & Dance)
Kode 9 · Find My Way (Hyperdub)
Kode 9 · Find My Way /Quantum Edit feat. SpaceApe (Hyperdub)
Kode 9 + The Space Ape · Konfusion (Hyperdub)
Cauto · Bona Vida (Dutty Artz)

The Good Reverend

2008-03-24T17:20:00.004Z

The Good Doctor Reverend J. Wright.
Every time i think "Pfft, pah religion", i think of the time i went to a ´Black´church in New York when i was about 13 years old. It was on! Whenever i think "Pfft, religion!" I think of gospel music, and it kinda sets me straight, if even for a minute or two.
When i heard The Good Doctor Reverend speak, i was raised, he hit the nail on the head, he makes people believe that there is something better for man, and ain´t that the point of religion? Dealing with the issues at hand, is one way to attempt to make things better, and i think what he´s been saying is along those lines, deal with your business properly, and you won´t get hurt. See for yourself, the video that Faux News and other mainstream media AIN´T playing. He´s just saying a truth that people want to ignore.

Other ´ignored news´ of the week, Iraq Veterans Against the War held an event last week called Winter Soldier. Veterans spoke frankly giving accounts of their experiences in Iraq. Not a pretty picture, no wonder the US mainsteam media has donated zero coverage time to this event.
Mike Hoffman, founder of IVAW said “Everyone wants this to be a good war so they can sleep at night. But guys like me know it’s not a good war. There’s no such thing as a good war.” More of Mike Hoffman and IVAW, here , courtesy of MotherJones magazine.

I´ve been listening to a lot of Aziz Mian this week. I´ve posted before about him as i´ve previously played his music on the radio program. Dropped one of his tunes during the dj set at Txola this past weekend, so i have to put up some links should anybody that was at the Txola be lookin´. Think of Aziz Mian as a rapper with gospel….an awesone poet.

Ay Allah, waiz ki bandagi hai jahannum ke khauf se
Maine gunah kiye tujhe ghaffar samajh kar

The preacher is pious only because he’s terrified of hell, Lord.
Whereas me, I sinned freely, trusting in your mercy
(from Hashr Ke Roz Main Poochhunga)

One of my best experiences was seeing Aziz perform in a small town in Pakistan. Before my eyes i saw people become so entranced by Aziz´performance that only the quick thinking and actions of audience members saved the physical self of the entranced from crashing to the ground. The entranced were gone, their spirits residing on a different level than their physical self.

Kicked off the program this week with Singers and Players featuring Mikey (Dread at the Control) Dread, who passed away last week from a brain tumor, he was only 54 years old. I had the good fortune to be at an On-U Sound recording session when Mikey passed by, real friendly and no trace of ego at all. May his family be consoled by the knowledge that he is at peace now.

I dug out Grooverider, he´s serving four years in a Dubai jail because he had two spliffs worth in his pocket when he went there to DJ at the end of last year.

Thanks to Dani/El Shiva Azul for the cumbia contributions, including the mash-ups of cumbia versus Busta Rhymes and The Beasties.

Where the fuck is Imhotep? He was/is part of the legendary French rap group I AM. He released a Mahgreb inspired solo album Blue Print ages ago, and i was hoping for a follow-up, but it never happened.

Ear Conditioning 25.03 2008

Singers and Players featuring Ashanti Roy and Mikey Dread · Autobiography (On-U Sound)
Dennis Alcapone · DJ´s Choice (Trojan)
Prince Far I · Deck of Cards (Trojan)
Dub Syndicate · Shout It Out (On-U Sound)
Circus Klezmer · Freitog nokh´n tsimes (9é circ d´hivern)
Imhotep · Marble Mine (Source)
Institute of Dubology feat. Tuffhead & Squidly · Nova (Taste/Livestock)
Reverend Wright speaking the Truth
African Scream Contest Mix · Analog Africa
Lucas Luizao · Princess Gold (mp3)
Negromoreno · La Danza de Busta (mp3)
Mixter Pan · Beastie vs. Crucet (mp3)
Chain Gang Song (Folkways)
Grooverider · Where´s Jack the Ripper (HigherGround)
Iraq Veterans Against the War · Winter Soldier
Aziz Mian · Allah Hi Jane
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan · Sari Sari Raat Teri Yaad
Burial · Title unknown

This program will be transmitted tomorrow via Radio Norte, 89.4FM Tenerife 20h00, and repeated on Saturday 29.03 at 21h00.

Analog Africa

2008-03-21T10:30:00.005Z

With a title like this, African Scream Contest, you know it has to be checked, immediately too, no time for messing around!
This is a little something to wash away the GW. Bush "everything thing is okay in Iraq, trust me!" blues.
´70´s raw psychedelic licks step forward and dominate the arena, a breeding ground of nasty funk, Africaaaan-style! The co-ordinator of this compilation has also put together a little mix for our pleasure, check out his Analog Africa blog page here. I really wish i had a copy for tonight´s session at Txola pub in La Laguna, but in due coarse. Expect me to drop the mix on next Tuesday´s radio program though. All the beats.

Oh, one other thing that´s been on my mind....this China/Tibet thing. The Chinese have admitted to using weapons against the demonstrators, " in self-defense." But their opponents are Buddhists for fuck sakes, they don´t even harm ants!

Eliot (Mess) Spitzer

2008-03-18T10:54:00.005Z

Been knocked out for the last couple weeks with pneumonia....damn i didn´t know if i was coming or going for awhile.

So, what´s been going on....five years of mess in Iraq, Eliot (Mess) Spitzer, governor of NY has been found out to be spending his hard-earned ca$h with prostitutes, and the US government has bailed out predator mortgage lenders to the tune of $200 Billion dollars, and the whole world may do into a depression because we are so tied into the US economy! What fuckery eh?! Now, Greg Palast has a something to say about this whole Eliot Mess thing, and it´s definitely worth checking out. Palast was the one that broke the story about the voting irregularities in Florida in that infamous election that brought GWB onto the world stage...he knows his shit. I think he maybe the last investigative reporter in the US, hopefully not. Now follow this and make up your own mind.....but ask yourself "How come I didn´t hear anything about this?"

This Friday and Saturday i will be spinning at Txola in La Laguna....it´s more of a fumeria (a place to smoke) than a place to dance or what-have-you, but they went out and bought some decks so i can play the vinyl...isn´t that nice? I believe i´ll be hitting the decks from around midnight, so if yer in the area, and fancy a tune to go with your favourite brand of cancer stick, come on down.

Ear Conditioning Playlist 18.03.2008
Silbo Gomero
La Kemia · Aie from Bacelona Raval Sessions (K Industria)
Moondog · Oo debut (Astralwerks)
DJ/Rupture & DJ Collage · Rude Boy Talk (ShockOut)
Ghislain Poirier & Seba · L´Art de la Fellation (ShockOut)
Zed Bias & Jay Electronica · The Cauldron (mp3)
Charizma & Peanut Buter Wolf · My World Premiere (Stones Throw)
Lee ´Scratch´Perry Vs. The Moody Boyz (OnU Sound)
Vecchio · Megaton
Barry Adamson · Dead Heat (Mute)
Tech Level 2 & Wayne Lonesome (ShockOut)
Sofa Surfers & Mark Stewart · Home Truths (Klein/Leaf)
Seigen Ono · Look for an Afternoon (Virgin)

Ear Conditioning · Radio Norte/89.4FM Tenerife
Tuesdays 20h00, Repeated Saturday 21h00

Gaza

2008-03-06T22:39:00.005Z

The headlines today
Gunmen kills 7 at Jerusalem school;
Gunman kills 8 at Jerusalem school, ...."it was like a slaughterhouse."

Well, can you blame the gunman?
Yeah, but to shoot up a school, that´s not right!
Neither is bombing civilians, turning off their water and electricity, or killing their children.
Somebody somewhere does not want peace to become a reality.
Above artwork by Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff

Lord, help the poor and needy

2008-02-19T08:34:00.010Z

Nice one Fidel, you made a lot of people proud of themselves by standing up to the man, and taking him on fair and square. An inspiration to millions in the Caribbean, South America, hell, the world over, much more of an inspiration than the Washington boys, no doubt! I just don´t get it with anti-Fidelistas....they go on about Cuba´s lack of this and lack of that, but never once question the so-called democracy that is supposed to exist in the land mass that is but 90 miles from Cuba. They never ever think that for 500 years, Cuba had never been allowed to run it´s own coarse. For 500 years, the French, Spanish, and Yanks ruled the roost and laid down the law. For the first time in 500 years, a Cuban, free of outside influence was at the head of the country. Think about it, your home being run by someone else for all that time. Think about it, then we´ll talk. The last track in today´s program is coincidentally very appropriate.

Fuckin´pussy ´oles! Who? The fucking Metropolitan Police Force of London, that´s who!
According to documents seen by the BBC, the police refused to arrest an Israeli general on a war crimes warrant because they feared an armed confrontation with Israeli security that were on the airplane that brought major general Doran Almog to the UK. Lawyers acting for Palestinian campaigners lobbied the Met Police to acto over allegations he had ordered the destruction in 2002 of more than 50 Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip.

This is the same police force that had no problem engaging their weapons against an unarmed man by the name of Jean Charles de Menezes or the countless people they have killed while in police custody.

The film Injustice looks at some of the families of people being killed at the hands of the police, and the families struggle to receive some kind of justice on behalf of their deceased brother, father, mother, sister, cousin. Whenever the director and producer of the film has tried to arrange screenings for the film in the UK, the venue, cinema has been threated with a court order by the Police.....something to do with libel.....fuckin´pussy´oles!

Now sports....we got all kinda tings going on in this weeks edition of Radio Freedom, newness from Cat Power, hardcore bass from Stereotyp, tag-team action from Mickey Hart and Zakir Hussein, percussion concussions from Nána Vasconcelos, a dash of cumbia, some of dat Radiohead thing, as well as Belgium´s best musical export, Think of One, who have a new album out very soon via Crammed. Kicking off the program.....a cut from The Best Belly Dance Album in the World 2!

Farrok Salama / Dalah (EMI Arabia)
Beat Conductor / Freeze (StonesThrow)
Think of One / Marrakesh II
Nána Vasconcelos / Balanca Rede (Island)
Lito Barrientes y su Orquesta / Cumbia en dos menor (Soundway)
Argonort / The Argonort
El-P / Truancy (Def Jux)
Stereotyp / My Sound (G-Stone)
The Bug / Poison Dart · Stereotyp Remix (Ninja Tune)
Company Flow / Lenorcism (Dummy Snacks)
Elixir & Endemic Void / Chronono (Eves/Language)
Madvillian / Raid (StonesThrow)
Radiohead / Jigsaw (XL)
Global Drum Project featuring Mickey Hart and Zakir Hussein / Funky Zena (Shout)
Cat Power / Lord Help the Poor and Needy (Matador)

Ear Conditioning, every Tuesday 20h00 at Radio Norte 89.4FM, repeated Saturday´s at 21h00

Special Brew / Ear Conditioning 12 Feb. 2008

2008-02-13T13:31:00.004Z

I came across DJ Negro via hispace, and he has been kind and generous enough to send me seven tracks to share amongst the listeners. His style....cumbia, dub, dancehaul. Everybody that has Diplo and the Mad Decent crew on their radar knows of the sixteen year old RyeRye....well i think they do, and so should you. Speaking of Diplo, while The Bug was visiting us here, he gave me a blast of Piracy Funds Terrorism mixtape of M.I.A. that Diplo produced. I was able to record the session note for note in my head and re-record it for you here..."Yeah right, you copied it ya bastid!"
Lined up for tonight´s program is a new joint from Erykah Badu, getting a kinda dubstep-inspired treatment from Mr. Moody, Tony Thorpe. One of the main men at Universal Records was back home in NewZealand and heard his remix of Amy Whinehouse, and was moved to ask "Who did dat?" and "Can he do something with Ms. Badu?" This one is for the ladies. We continue to follow the links....from Badu to Jay Electronica....yes, him again. His flow is so different i´m hooked like the fish we had for lunch.

This past weekend, the group Tropico28 and myself headed to the mainland for a couple concerts in Alcazar de San Juan and Madrid. During one session, Aitor, the Tropico programmer asked "What is that track you just played that had the heavy pounding drums, that opened my mind?" I responded "Oh, you mean The Bug remix of Thom Yorke."

Tropico, as with a lot of heads here in Tenerife, are really into their drum an´ bass. Posters for ´Old Skool´ events stand tall all over the place. So with that it mind, i dug out, what for me is one of the best....Source Direct. For the uninitiated, they were associates of the one known as Photek. It was Rupert/Photek that brought them to the attention of Steve Brown, AnR man for the Science label, which was part of Virgin Records, back when it rocked. Steve signed them.....but before their releases on Virgin, there was "The Crane", which they released on their own imprint. Very atmospheric in a Blade Runner way, punishing drums, sword manoeuvres and a 12" full of tension.

The Special Brew / Ear Conditioning 12 Feb. 2008

DJ Negro · Danza Extrerrestre (DJ Negro)
DJ Negro · Mash Up Andres Landero VS. Rookie (DJ Negro)
DJ Blaqstarr & Rye Rye · Shake It (Mad Decent)
M.I.A. / Cutty Ranks · from Piracy Funds Terrorism mixed by Diplo
Bunny General · Kill a Drumpan Sound (Sweet Music)
77Klash feat. Johnny Osbourne · Mad Again (Dutty Artz)
Ghislain Porier · Blazin (Ninja Tune)
Erykah Badu VS. The Moody Boyz (Universal)
Jay Electronica · Departureandareyouwatching
Thom Yorke · Harrowdown Hill · The Bug Remix (XL)
The Bug · Skeng · Kode 9 Remix (Hyperdub)
Cauto · Bona Vida (Dutty Artz)
US Soldier at Abu Ghraib talks about CIA techniques and the pimping of a 15 year old Iraqi girl.
Source Direct · The Crane (Source Direct)

This is something off the hook, people making a scene. Just stop for a minute.....or five.
Until next time....peace out.

Carnaval en Tenerife

2008-02-05T13:56:00.000Z

A major component of the carnival aqui en Tenerife es las Murgas. Murgas are a group of singers, lots of singers....we are talking at least 50, armed with kazoo´s, costumes, and painted faces, that take a popular song and change the lyrics to reflect with humour, the current local political or social scene. This year as the scandal regarding the mayor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Miguel Zerolo and the Las Teresitas development continues, one of the most popular Murgas, Los Bambones, took the opportunity to express themselves proper. During the carnival the murgas compete in competition and the rumours floating state that it´s best to avoid the politics, hence there was a lot of pressure on the judges not to give Los Bambones the top award...the politicos couldn´t handle their fierce critics being rewarded for their insolence. Being part of a Murga outfit costs a lot of money....rental of the rehearsal space, costumes, paint/make-up for over fifty persons, transport etc. Winning the competition helps with the costs, so you see the problem....it´s becoming Murga-lite, but Los Bambones aren´t taking the easy route, no sir! In the clip below, Los Bambones refer to the lottery, which is how Zerolo says he came across quite a bit of money that was found in his bank account...."I won the lottery three times." Oh yeah Miguel, sure you did. What are the chances of winning a lottery once, never mind three fucking times. Oh, i get it, when he says he won the lottery, he wasn´t joking. I applaud Los Bambones for sticking to their guns, just not sure about the wigs though....

Last year when we went to Carnaval, i got really pissed off with seeing countless people dressed in Blackface, then coming up to me and dropping "Hey brother!" I left after snapping and hitting the 10th psuedo-bro in his mug. Many folks are ignorrrrant of what dressing in Blackface means to us that are insulted by it, no idea what so efffing ever.....then you´ve got jerks like those that taunted Lewis Hamilton at the Madrid practice track this past weekend. They definitely knew the connotations of getting ´blacked-up´ and riling the brother. Okay, so they didn´t like what went on between the British F1 McLaren team, Hamilton and the Spanish flag-bearer Alonso, but why drag it into a racial issue? Easy way out guys, lame. Really, some white people need to have their %ucking skin peeled off them while they are still alive and have it force-fed to them....no, better yet, their daughter or son should fall in love with the darkest of brothers or sisters from this planet and they get it on like rabbits, producing ´nuff grandchildren for the grandparents to feel completely fucking stupid.

Yesterday a friend asked "What does ´Nigger´ mean?" When that word came out of her mouth, it hit me like a rock, quite a surprise it was, i didn´t see it coming at all. So we engaged in a conversation, and cleared up the matter. Many white folks here, they don´t know it´s history, yet they hear it in music or in films and think it´s cool or okay, ´specially if they hear a black person using it. There are a few people at fault here, besides the obvious, what about the record companies that promote the shit, and run looking for excuses when they are brought to book. I stand accused.....i love Richard Pryor, and he had me and millions of my generation in tears when he did his thing, but now, like when i do my radio program, i clean the tracks that contain n.....r because when i hear other programs here, like the rap program on Radio3 (RNE) throwing it about, especially here in a country where English is not widely understood, it hurts too mucking fuch! One of the best known producer/DJ in these parts, Real El Canario, who is now based in Amsterdam, maybe a great dj....witness him spinning 100 hip hop tracks in fifteen minutes, however i don´t think he can claim ignorance with the ´Trankilo my Niger´ (Easy my Niger) tag on his myspace page....then again, maybe he´s not a good speller, or i totally missed the point and he was talking about the country...uh, i don´t think so.
Thanks to the field-negro for his writings which i find very on-point. Every home should have a field-negro.

Photo courtesy of the field-negro.
Oh shit, speaking of n····r, this just hit the net, the trailer for N####rTheMovie. It sets out to examine and analyze the origin and contradictions of the N-word. What constitutes one as a "n····r"; is it a racial slur; a term of endearment? The film examines the many cultural perspectives to understand teh meaning, contect and power of the term "n····r".

No radio program today for some stupid reason that i´ll not bother going into....but i had some new cumbia joints from DJ Negro, from Buenos Aires, who sent ´nuff tuneage; a rewind of Jay Electronica-the illest rapper-producer i´ve heard i´ve heard in ages; the fresh (so fresh, it´s still warm from the oven) remix by the Moody Boyz of Erykah Badu, some more El Guincho....who it turns out is playing the same day, same town (Madrid) as myself and Tropico28.....sorry Trop´, i may have to miss your set and head over for some of that ElectroTropicana business. Madrid town-folk can catch us as Sala Silikona on Saturday, and at The Kings Electro Bar in Alcázar de San Juan, Ciudad Real on the Friday night. The planned program can wait until next week. Happy Carnaval or whatever you do.

Hank Shocklee / Still Bombin´

2008-02-01T13:07:00.000Z

A good friend was talking to me recently about Hank Shocklee, and how he´s really feeling dubstep, then today i came across the following clip via Digital Bombing...

Ear Conditioning Radio 29.01.08

2008-01-30T09:32:00.000Z

Job read about him somewhere; he told Javi; Javi told me. I listened, so I´mma telling you.
El Guincho. Originally from Gran Canaria, now a Barcelona resident, who may well be spending more time in airport terminals and foreign clubs soon enough....he´s got plenty love from a lot of people, the initial pressing of his album Alegranza has sold da fuck out, there ain´t even any promo copies left. A tropical breeze flows when El Guincho productions are connected to the speakers. Sample-based tunes that set the party alight. He´s got Canarian folkloric music in there in there, Brazilian vibes on a Naña Vasconcelos tip, doo-wop, Afrobeat guitar licks, Baul-esque rhythms, steel-pan sounds and more driving underneath his not-so-clear-vocals (that ain´t a dis....maybe my ears aren´t tuned into his pronounciation). He´s playing in Madrid the same day (Feb.9) myself and Tropico28 step to Madrid for a gig ourselves.....ahhhhh, piss me off! Pinchar aqui for an short interview Pablo/El Guincho did in English.

As previously mentioned here, DJ/Rupture and Matt Shadatek have formed an alliance under the name Dutty Artz, and the /r was courteous to provide some tasters of what is instore....77Klash with the legendary Johnny Osbourne, Cauto putting Barcelonian dubstep on the map with ´Bona Vida´.

Jay Electronica
"He´d ask the craziest questions."
"He´s one of the few artists that are willing to go all the way to the left."
"He´s a....I wouldn´t call him a person, ´cos he´s a weird looking cat...like an alien but in a beautiful way."

The above are quotes by Just Blaze and Erykah Badu taken from the Eternal Sunshine mix Mr. Electronica did that The Bug pointed out to me. Moody Boy Thorpe was talking about him too, so with those two telling me something, it´s gotta be check´d. The mix contains no beats, just heart-felt meloncholic chords, words and a few samples from films or TV programs that ring a bell but i can´t nail down.

Ear Conditioning / 29 January

El Guincho / Palmito Park (Discoteca Océana)
King L Man / Arando (Ear Con)
The Roots VS. Lata Mageshkar / In the Music (Ear Con Mix)
Elixir / Trapdoor to Another Life (Quatermass)
Unknown Artist / Ahl Al Aqil · Folk and Pop Sounds from Iraq (Sublime Frequencies)
77 Klash feat. Johnny Osbourne / Mad Again (Dutty Artz)
Cauto / Bona Vida (Dutty Artz)
Buju Banton / People Kill People
The Bug / Poison Dart · DJ Baku refit (Ninja Tune)
Cotti / I Don´t Give A Dub (White)
Jeb Loy& The Oil Wells / Things that made the US (On-U Sounds)

Jay Electronica / Eternal Sunshine / The Pledge (mp-free)

Foreward by Erykah Badu & Just Blaze
Eternal Sunshine
Because He Broke the Rules
Voodoo Man
Fyi

Mighty Zulu Nation vs. DMZ (Ear Con)

As for Suharto, good riddance you bastard!

Why bother? Play the music man! / Ear Conditioning 22.1.08

2008-01-21T22:16:00.000Z

In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, experts warned Tony B.Liar that occupying the country and trying to impose a western-style democracy was doomed to failure. The Guardian´s Jonathan Steele has written a behind-the-scenes account of what happened when people with the knowledge briefed the former Downing Street occupant, not that he actually listened to what they had to say...

Wait, i must be looking at this from totally the wrong perspective. It´s not like anybody really gives two pence what the Iraqi´s think. The Iraqi Provisional Authority headed by Paul Bremer got what it wanted....or I should say, the US with Paul Bremer as head of the Provisional Authority, got what it wanted...as in carving up the country and giving slices of it´s businesses to foreign control, and privatizing war...see Blackwater, Haliburton, SAIC, et al.

Before the invasion, Iraq's non-oil-related economy had been dominated by 200 state-owned companies, which produced everything from cement to paper to washing machines. In June, Bremer flew to an economic summit in Jordan and announced that these firms would be privatized immediately. "Getting inefficient state enterprises into private hands," he said, "is essential for Iraq's economic recovery."
Naomi Klein/Harpers Magazine Sept. 2004

Meanwhile to take my mind off this shit....I was listening to Ethiopia´s great Mahmoud Ahmed, and instantly decided that the willing ears here in Tenerife needed a dash of his glorious tone.

Helping maintain the stereotype that us black folks are well-endowed down there, is Big Bamboo by Lord Creator. Being the one fly in the milk in this town, there is one shameless old woman who, whenever we pass in the street asks if it´s big, i tell her it´s small. I am tempted to be rude next time and tell her that it could bus´ her up, but i refrain....over-sexed natives eh?!

I´ve been asked to do a remix for TraceElements. Chris (z) of said group sent a CD of another one of his groups, Zodiac Project, which features former FDM bandmates, rapper Scalper, and Wajid, the sonic noise merchant also known as 2nd Gen. Some of the frequencies that make up Organic Drift are top-end frighteners, that is scary, could fuck-up speaker type sonics.

Dodo....what can i say? Got a sense of humour that i dig...."I don´t need a guy, I´ve got my gun." Electric Love´s kitchsy-´lectro-pop sensibilities hooked me from the off! Get the 7" vinyl through Freshly Squeezed Records...don´t be shy, she doesn´t bite. The last time i was in Ldn, she roped me in to do vocals for a multiplication times table CD that she made for kids, made me impersonate a dog, can you believe it?!

Elsewhere, i ´jacked the mix that Filastine did for Blentwell....he´s crammed so many disks into 30 minutes, i´ve had to get a sick note, won´t be in for work tomorrow.

Ear Conditioning at Radio Norte 22.01.08

Grim Dubs Vol.1 (Grim Dubs)
Guadi & Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (Six Degrees)
Mahmoud Ahmed / Sidetegnash Negn/Samiraye (Crammed)
Lord Creator / Big Bamboo (Dynamic Sounds)

Filastine Unleashed (Blentwell mp-free)

Filastine - La Muerte (track in development)
"Cycheouts Ghost"- Simtek
Ellen Allien & Apparat - Metric
The Bug (featuring Flowdan) - Jah War
Horsepower Productions - Synbad
Dam - Da Dam
Dj C - Body Work
Filastine remixes unlabeled maghrebi cassette, we'll call it- Berber Sex Hat
Filastine remixes Maga Bo's - Nakhil - featuring K-Libre
Immortal Technique - The 4th Branch
Electromeca - Outromeca
Fairuz - Baatilak
Filastine - Blung rithm
Ojos de Brujo- Todo Tiende
Actitud Maria María Marta - Hijo Mio
Filastine - Quémalo rithum, Nuestros Suenos version featuring...
Rabah (MBS) & Beni (La7ma)
TTC - Paris
Filastine - Batalla rithm featuring...
Alesh acapella by Jawad/Maga Bo for unreleased Sonar Calibrado track
Fawzy Hafez - Suffara & Nay Solos
Saian Supa Crew - Blow
Sonar Calibrado - E daí (unreleased)
Morris Brown Drumline / Demetrius Hubert - X-Factor
Shystie- Get Loose
Filastine - untitled & unreleased, with...
Dead Prez - Hell Yeah
RDB featuring Elephant Man - Ishq Naag
Shyam Brass Band - Choli ke Peechhe

Danny Elfman & Steve Bartek / Prelude, from the film Psycho (Virgin)
Dodo / Electric Love (Freshly Squeezed)
Zodiac Project / Organic Drift (Urgence Disk)
Sandra Bernhard / Time of the Season (Enigma)
Barry Adamson / Under Wraps (Mute)
Barry Adamson / Epilogue (Mute)

Ear Conditioning at Radio Norte, Tuesday 21h00 89.4FM
Repeated Saturday 21h00

This is Freestyle,
But this style is not free,
It´s expensive....Roots Manuva

Enviromental Impact Study

2008-01-15T15:19:00.000Z

The Bug vs. D.WattsRiot Soundclash

There seems to be no shame in the way the power structure goes about it´s business.
Tony Blair is being touted as the new president of the EU.
Former Indonesian dictator, Suharto is reportedly close to death. Him, responsible with the likes of the US government during Gerald Ford´s term invaded East Timor in 1975, and killed a third of the population. With oil fields in the proximity, Austrailia turned it´s back on East Timor and the idea of human rights, even as Indonisian soldiers mutilated several members of the Australian media, and sucked on the tit of Texas Tea...oil that is, with Indonesia. Suharto reportedly skimmed between 15-35Billion dollars during his reign. As he lies in a hospital with machines running his system, even human rights groups are sending flowers to his bedside. It´s the fact that these %unts never have to account for their behaviour, never, no wonder our regards for politricians is at an all time low.....the ratings for Frat Boy, as the field-negro blog call GW is at 24%. Fuck ´im, and the whole cabal.

Onto the goodness, as mentioned a couple weeks back, when Kevin Martian came to visit, it was like old times in London, shooting the breeze over some ice-cream, cakes...and yes, tuneage. So today´s Ear Conditioning program (15.01.2008) was made up of selections from both our craniums, shelves, ipods and computa´s. One hell of an action-packed sixty minutes!

The repeat of the program goes out tonight at 9pm local time...89.4FM

Aziz Mian / Allahi Jane Kaun
DJ Krush & Mr. Lif / Nosferatu (Sony)
Cult of the 13^th Hour / Wickedness (Soul Jazz)
Kode 9 / Stung (Soul Jazz)
DMZ / Thief in the Night (Soul Jazz)
Pinch / Chamber Dub (Soul Jazz)
The Bug / Jah War · Loefah Remix (Ninja Tune)
Baaba Mal / Call to Prayer
Burial / Archangel (Hyperdub)
Vangelis / Blade Runner (mp3)
Mr. Scratch / Live (mp3)
Dutty Goodz / Take (mp3)
Dizzee Rascal / PussyOle (XL)
Ghislain Poirier meets Roots Manuva and The Clipse (mp3)
Roots Manuva / Witness the Fitness (Big Dada)
Hopha / Cake B (Immortal)
Caspa / DubWarz (Dub Police)
Thom Yorke / Harrowdown Hill · The Bug Remix (XL)
Sofa Surfers feat. DJ Collage / Passin´ (Klein)
The Moody Boyz / Dubland (Moody CD-r)
DigiDub feat. Helen McDonald / Obruumankwaa (Digidub CD-r)

Rupture is at it again...

2008-01-09T18:00:00.000Z

..And this time he´s got some mates, Dutty Artz is the name of the new label he´s set up with super-quick producer Matt Shadetek. New tunes are being cut now, so put dat name into yer bookmarks and keep checkin´.

Free Fouad Ahmed al-Farhan/BugStep

2008-01-06T22:33:00.000Z

Fouad Ahmed al-Farhan usually blogs here, but since early December he´s been banged up in a Saudi jail for “violating non-security regulations”. Sounds vague dunnit?

In an e-mail sent to friends prior to his arrest, al-Farhan explained that he had received a phone call from the Saudi Interior Ministry instructing him to prepare himself “to be picked up in the coming two weeks” for questioning by a high-ranking official. He also stated in the e-mail that he believed he was being summoned “because I wrote about the political prisoners here in Saudi Arabia and they think I’m running an online campaign promoting their issue.” In one of his last posts before his detention, al-Farhan sharply criticized 10 influential Saudi business, religious, and media figures.

Saudi Arabia is one ´ucked-up place. Former British Prime Minister, Tony B.Liar definitely ain´t no sweet-bread, as his finger-prints are all over the decision to stop an investigation in a massive arms deal with BAE and Saudi Arabia early last year or in 2006. He claimed he had nothing to do with the investigation being halted, but secret documents acquired by the Guardian show the contrary.

In other news Ztohoven, a group of hackers/pranksters/artists...(take your pick) in the Czech Republic pulled a stunt reminiscent of 1938 radio transmission of HG Wells´ War of the Worlds. Word is though they may find themselves in the slammer for a few years ´cos they hacked into a transmission of a weather broadcast and inserted a mushroom cloud as the camera panned across a mountain scene. See the action here.

Nobody flies on Christmas Day, unless you got wings, which means your either a bird or The Bug. Mr. K-Mart took a holiday down our way, so we showed him the sights of Tenerife. He really shoulda been working his bugbutt off, to finish his album for Ninja Tune, but hey, one has a limit when it comes to being stuck in a studio in London´s Bethnal Green, and the cry for a break was louder than the scream he emitted when he stepped into our surrounding seas for a dip on New Years´s Day...bliss!
We shared words, food, music, photos etc., and my first radio prog´of 2008 will a BugStep/WattsRiot soundclash selection, taking in his remix for Thom Yorke, Loefah´s remix of The Bug´s ´Jah War´, Vangelis´extra bits for Blade Runner, and some Aziz Mian and DJ Krush with Mr. Lif from my end. Ear Conditioning return to the airwaves Jan. 14th.

Here´s the Record!

2007-12-18T01:07:00.000Z

Got a bit of a turntablist/DJ thing going on this program, lashings of Rob Swift, DJ Disk, J-Zone. First came across Disk when Buckethead came to London for a promo trip to make heads aware of his latest album at the time. Disk was part of his band. With one deck, mixer and two guitar pedals he bedazzled the entire audience. The whole band rocked, a crazy ass in your face drummer, whose name i can´t remember unfortunately, and not like i need to say anything about Buckethead, playing intricate light-speed solos while doing maneouvres with nunchakas using his left hand.
Here´s Disk with Bill Laswell, Zakir Hussein and some other killer players doin´ it proper....

Javi dropped some of his extra Womex cd haul on me last week. Included was a collection of music from the Indian Ocean, courtesy of Takamba Records. The simplicity of a bell, and a voice set to an ear-invading rhythm on a tambour never fails.
Checked in with The Bug and he reports that his new album is one month away from completion, so should be dropping in next April. Artwork will be handled by Fefe....yep, wanna see it now don´t ya?! I hope he goes with the current choice for the title, it´s very apt. No, can´t say yet, however the singles, Jah War, Skeng, and now Poison Dart have been well received. Kode 9 played Poison Dart at the End earlier this year, and the crowd reaction was how you´d want it to be, over da top....caught us off-guard, glad for ya Kev´. Skream and Stereotyp are among the remixers for the Poison Dart effort. The Bug and Burial have also tackled Thom Yorke with respective remixes, which i believe came out yesterday.

Christmas time in the Canary Islands means truchas; sweet potato, flour, almonds, raisins, bit of liquor, and a lot of elbow grease mixing the ingredients, then fried. Another component is Lard.

Oh, the images....well a few years back Aki came back from a trip to Poland with a copy of Time magazine and it had the same photo in it. We immediately jacked it for theT-shirt, which when worn, and viewed by Farsi/Arabic-readers, they always ask if i know what the writing says.

Ear Conditioning Playlist / December 18 / Here´s The Record!

Here´s the record.....Intro
Mos Def · Tash · Q-Tip / Body Rock (Rawkus)
J-Zone / Catch 22
Stacey Pullen / Futuristicfreakqueen (Science)
Keith LeBlanc / You Drummers Listen Good (World)
DJ Disk / Holidisk Inn
Rob Swift / All that Scratchin is Making Me Rich (Asphodel)
Strata 3 / (It´s Not A) Man´s World (Bush)
Bomber Pilot speaks of dying with dignity, should his time come and being glad he´s not a ground soldier....(BBC Records)
SoftBalletForms · Jail of Freedom · Autechre remix (SSR)
ChainGang Song · WNEW´s Story of Selma (Folkways)
Lard / The Power of Lard (Alternative Tentacles)
Fun-da-mental / White Tongues (5 Uncivilized Tribes)
Ile Rodrigues / Mo mari ó (Takamba)
The Bug feat. FlowDan & Killa P / Skeng (Hyperdub)
Kode 9 and The Spaceape / Nine (Hyperdub)
Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson / Peace Go With You Brother · Wa-Alekum-Salaam (Strata East)

The Ear Conditioning program is dealt every Tuesday at 9pm on Radio Norte, 89.4FM Tenerife,
repeated at the same hour Saturday night.

I´ve thrown up a mix, Speaker Spazm, here if your interested or have the time. It´s got stuff like 2ndGen, FDM, Canarian comedy, Brazilian beats, Radiohead remixed by Fila Brazilia, Chávez on the mic, Grace Jones, Mutamassik, Blind Idiot God, Dr. Phibes and the House of Wax Equations, Massive Attack/Blur´d and so on. Clocks in at 42 mins, about 82mb.

Ear Conditioning 11.12.2007 / No se calla porque es la voz del pueblo

2007-12-11T22:10:00.000Z

In light of Chávez, The Bolivarian Revolution, the recent referendum, i started the program with Joe Strummer´s soundtrack to Walker, the Alex Cox film about Nicaragua. The amount of bullshit coming out of the US, Spain, the UK etc. against Chávez is overwhelming. When he first came to power, his opponents said he was a dictator. Since 1998, Venezuela has had at least 10 elections/referendums.....i thought dictators didn´t do that kinda thing. For the first time in the country´s history they have an indigenous leader, and the rich don´t like it at all. Toma! Bloggers are being asked to carry real news about Venezuela as the mainstream media are not doing the job they should be doing.

Over at the Guevara Convention, this month´s contribution is from Indigenous Resistance. Sacred Power (Embracing a Free Leonard Peltier) is the title. The original CD that features this track is dedicated to the memory of Galdino, a Pataxó Indian in Brazil, who in 1997 was murdered, when as a "joke" four rich kids poured gasoline on Galdino as he slept. He was then set on fire. The rich kids received minimal sentences and were soon back on the street.
Fuck Babylon indeed.

Shit, piss, bollocks....got word that Goya Music, the distributors of all dat Broken Beat an´ Future Jazz stuff, went out of business a couple weeks back. Goya was situated just around the corner from Virgin Records, and Nigel Wildman, a Virgin AnR man, signed IG Culture (NSM, People, Main Squeeze) to the label, and I was priviliged to work on the promotion of IG´s ´Download This´ album. Every couple of weeks, I would drop into Goya and Mike and Spence would drop some new joints in my eager palms, and send me on my merry way back to the Virgin office, where I would proceed to drop the needle on the latest releases in the office. One of my favourites was…..no, still is, Seiji´s Second Nature. Hopefully IG, 2000Black, Bugz in da Attic and crew will find a new viable outlet for their tuneage.

The ever-giving DJ/Rupture served up a remix of M.I.A.´s Paper Planes by Sonido Martines. Those familiar with this page or it´s mother, Ear Conditioning radio, will be familiar with Sonido….yes, he of the Cumbia Rebajadas mix that I jacked from Rupture a few months back…

Another group on the rebajadas tip are El Hijo de la Cumbia. They have also been kind enough to send some tracks and i´ll be dropping them next week, once this glich with my computadora is sorted.

Joe Strummer / Machete
Sussan Deyhim & Bill Laswell / The Candle and The Moth
Tunisian Folklore
Lucy Pearl / Alabama A&M Marching Band
Taraf de Haidouks / A Stork Crosses the Danube, in the company of a Raven
Inverse Cinematics / Seven by Seven
Seiji / Second Nature
Rubberoom / Space + Time
DJ Food / Nevermore
Burial / Untrue Album mix by Kode 9
M.I.A. / Paper Planes · Sonido Martines´ Paper Guacharaca Mix
Doug Wimbish / Just a Minute

Ear Conditioning...the radio program is transmitted Tuesday´s at 9pm, with the repeat going on on Saturday, same time, same station, Radio Norte 89.4FM. The engineer has been made aware that the online function isn´t happening, and since it´s being paid for, the problem is being investigated...or so i´ve been told. Will let you know when i know.

Islamic Terrorism in Europe

2007-12-06T21:31:00.000Z

Going by reports in the mainstream media/press/tv, one would think Europe was a haven of Islamic terrorists. Figures from Europol, the European Police agency reveal that ´Islamic Terrorists´ have been responsible for 0.2% of Terrorist activity in Europe during last year.
In 2006 the National press in the UK carried 26, 577 reports which mentioned the word 'terrorist' or 'terrorism'. Of these 7,620 also referred to 'Islam', 'Islamist' or 'Muslim'. In other words the media reported Islamist violence out of all proportion to the number of attacks.

Click here for the juice, courtesy of spinwatch.

Do we expect corporate media to give us the truth about corporate and governmental matters when they feed off the same tit?

Ear Conditioning 4.12.2007 / Shock Doctrine

2007-12-04T15:03:00.000Z

Naomi Klein makes another appearance on the program, no, she wasn´t actually in the studio, i just jacked an interview she did with MSNBC´s Keith Olbermann, who seems to be one of the few journalists in the US mainstream that does not bow down like Faux News or CNN. Klein talks about the economic theory created by the No.1 Chicago Boy, Milton Friedman.
"Only a crisis, real or perceived, produces real change". His ideology was exported to Chile with the USA-assisted coup that brought Pinochet to power in ´73, and still continues to run to this day. At the most chaotic juncture in Iraq's civil war, a new law was unveiled that would allow Shell and BP to claim the country's vast oil reserves. Immediately following September 11, the Bush Administration quietly out-sources the running of the "War on Terror" to Halliburton and Blackwater. After a powerful tsunami devastates the coasts of Southeast Asia, the pristine beaches are auctioned off to tourist resorts. New Orleans's residents, still scattered from Hurricane Katrina, discover that their public housing, hospitals and schools will never be reopened. Interestingly enough this weekend i watched the John Pilger film on Venezuela ´War on Democracy´, as millions of Venezuelans went to vote on the constitutional changes the Chávez government has proposed. Despite the final outcome, which saw Chávez lose the vote, he and his government still have a good few years to make the best of their nation without selling out the Uncle Slam and discarding the hopes of the millions that were constantly forgotten and abused in the pre-Chávez years.

Late addition: Just saw this piece by John Pilger about the Venezuelan referendum in the Guardian of today, and this one from yesterday by Seamus Milne. The folks at Tenerife News should read this and learn something instead of spouting the line as if they were being paid by the Venezuelan opposition.

Now sports.....well, music actually.....the best DJ i´ve ever witnessed and had the pleasure of working with is called Rich McLean aka World Service aka Audio Shrapnel. Rich worked at Nation Records doing everything apart from writing the cheques. I found one of his mixtapes, and digitized a bit to play on today´s program. He mashed together Lata Mageshkar, Yabby U, A Tribe called Quest and an 7/8 opus from Nitin Sawney.

Last week FDM returned to Prague, and old friends Ivo, David Urban, James Scanlon were present. Pavel aka Mustakillah , Dj´d before and after the band set, wearing his Checkpoint 303 t-shirt....hence, i visited their site again, and downloaded Gaza Calling. A couple guys from the group Pop-Porn gave me a copy of their CD, while i was spinning with Mustakillah, so we got some fresh Czech joints lacing the Tenerifian radio-space as well Rachid again, gotta love him, despite his affliction for the whiskey.
The most diverse hour on Canarian radio is soon to strike....Radio Norte 89.4FM from 9pm.

World Service Mix– Best Dresssed Chicken Tikka in Town featuringYabby U/ Kishore Kumar / Baluji Shrivastav / Lata Mageshkar /A Tribe Called Quest / Nitin Sawney
Unknown artist / Ahl Al Aqil (Oh People of Reason) Folk and Pop Sounds from Iraq CD
Yumma, Al Hilou (Mother, Here´s my Beauty) Folk and Pop Sounds from Iraq CD
Naomi Klein / Shock Doctrine
Checkpoint 303 / Gaza Calling
Rachid Taha / Nokta
Sheik Usama Bin Laden / Message to the European Peoples
Moondog / Bumbo
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis / Cowgirl. From the Assassination of Jesse James by the
Coward Robert Ford
Manu Chao / Politics · Prince Fatty Remix
Rusko / Cockney Thug
Unknown Dubstep t´ing
Pop-Porn / (R)evolution
Sonido Martines / Cumbia Rebejadas mix for DJ/ Rupture
Cymande / The Message

Rachid.....and not a bottle in sight!

2007-12-02T14:53:00.000Z

Rachid Taha was in town last week, but to be completely honest, he was pissed as a newt. A friend did a pre-show interview with him and he was already on the scotch or whiskey. I hope this doesn´t become a fashionable thing among singers of his ilk. I mentioned it to Aki during our Prague visit on Thursday, and he replied that it had already set in among some of Rachid´s peers.
My best wishes go out to him. Here´s some footage with him in much better form, alongside Faudel and Khaled.

I have been trying to find the video that a stylish French director did for ´No, No, No´ from Rachid´s Olé Olé album. Rachid´s producer, Steve Hillage asked me to do some vocals for an ´international´ version of No, No, No....no, no, no joy so far. Here´s a little sample of the track itself....yes, it´s a house thing.

Rosa Parks 52 years on......

2007-12-01T20:41:00.000Z

Today is the 52nd anniversary of the day Rosa Parks refused to move from the back of the bus. For the minority workers shipped into the richest enclave in the USA, the fight for basic human dignity continues.

On Friday, August 31st, 2007, security officer Wisly Jonatas clocked out of work at 11 p.m. after his evening shift on Fisher Island, an exclusive, private island off the coast of Miami. Like all Fisher Island service workers, Wisly took the ferry to and from the island for work every day. Tired from a long day at work, Wisly walked onto the ferry and sat down in the ferry’s segregated employee lounge…

Wisly had just taken his seat in the ferry’s segregated employee lounge when the ferry captain summoned and reprimanded him for not following a newly-instituted rule that prohibits workers from walking past island residents’ parked cars on the ferry to get to the employee lounge. For his insubordination, Wisly was forced to get off the ferry and wait for the next one. Five days later, he was fired from his job on the island…

It´s the 21st century dammit! Talk of being civilized is ridiculous. Let the so-called peasants revolt.

Click here to see video clip and read more on this, courtesy of alternet.org

Album of the Week
Just before i left for Thursday´s FDM gig in Prague at Lucerne Music Bar, i received the latest work of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, music for the film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Violins, violas, tamborine, celestes....uh, what´s a celeste? Gotta check, back in a minute.

Ok, wiki cleared that up....."sound, akin to that of a glockenspiel".
So, the album is awash with violin, viola, celeste and cello. There´s one joint on the album, Cowgirl, that is a good one to grab your lady by her waist, and waltz around the kitchen table to. It´s been on repeat so much that i fear it´s hitting that point of annoyance to my ever-lovin´.

In today´s Independent newspaper, there is this feature about my former bosses at EMI, and their monied ways. I think it scrapes a bit of the iceberg....
I recall much noise being made over the 5million pound golden handshake that Ken Berry received when he was given the boot. To be honest, Ken was cool, and think he deserved it, he was at Virgin from early on, and held onto Virgin and it´s ways for many years even after we were swallowed up by the bigger EMI.

Do you really think he deserved five million pounds? Well, the second in command at EMI USA was given the boot after the company lost millions....his severance was fifty million dollars, and i didn´t hear any one say anything about that. It really pissed me off at the time....thinking here we are working to pay off this guy´s severance package. What are the artists gonna think about that, knowhatimean? And it´s not like he needed it....he, being Charles Koppleman, the K in SBK Publishing/Records already received roughly the same amount when EMI bought SBK. Can you spare a dime (10cents) brother?

I always thought Pop Will Eat Itself was one of the best band names ever, because it has.

Thanks to La Opinion/Radikal....for some reason they gave this blog a little big-up.
Do check the latest issue of Radikal/Rdk for the review of last week´s Womad Festival by the incomparable Javier Jiménez.

Ear Conditioning Nov. 27.2007

2007-11-27T20:10:00.000Z

Ear Conditioning 27.11 / Post-Womad Program
As mentioned in the previous post, this past weekend, the Womad Festival in Las Palmas took centre stage. Akli D, Los Campesinos, Justin Adams, Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba, Mala Rodriguez, 08001, Concha Buika, Mory Kante, Dj´s Blam & Khan, Jamie Cato, Black Strobe, David D´Or, Susana Baca, Culture Music Club, Calima, local 4-man DJ crew Funk Four Factory, 2 Mini Dj´s and Maghreb Sound System were among the artists that presented their thing. Bill Cobham was the Master of Ceremonies for the event, which ended with him leading the Grand Finale Jam session, featuring most of the artists that performed over the weekend. Class.
At least once a day there was a ´What the hell is that´ moment. The introduction of a new sound, new instrument, and new group/singer/style...something fresh for the senses. Concha Buika topped it for me.

There was a fantastic crowd response when Mory Kante dropped Yéké Yéké, the first million selling African record.

Womad 2007 was the first time i´ve heard grime and dubstep played in the Canaries, (courtesy of the youthful and fun-loving DJ´s Blam and Khan) on a system that can deal with the low end. Sub-frequency / bass-bins seem not the have a home in the Canaries for some reason. That must change. Had a quick chat with Khan, and he told me that all the tunes they played during their dj sets was all their own material, which was quite impressive, and they had a wide selection of tuneage, and no two sounded alike, promising.

Tonight, program two for Radio Norte goes a little like this.....some resistance music from Palestine, into Rachid Taha, a dash of Lisbon electro and so on.......

Palestinian Student Karmel Group · Al Intifada Was Jabal Al Thawra (Venture)
In A´d Rifaki · Al Kassam Al Filistini (Venture)
Rachid Taha · Ya Rayah (Wrasse)
Buraka Som Sistema · Com Respeito (Modular)
Trio Madjesi · 8ieme Round (Trikont)
Billy Cobham · Anxiety (Atlantic)
LV · Takeover (Hyperdub)
Coki · The End (dmz)
Skream · Moving Snares (Disfigured)
Coki · Sponge Bob (dmz)
ANS · Brave New World (Studio Rockers)
Bunny General · Kill a Drumpan Sound (Sweet Beat)
Frederik Galliano · Le Poussiére (F Communications 10")
The Dynamics · Move on up

Ear Conditioning is broadcast on Radio Norte, 89.4FM Tacoronte, Tenerife.
Todos los martes de 9 a 10 de la noche / Tuesdays 21h00-22h00

The Bug ´Poison Dart´ / Concha Buika

2007-11-27T01:47:00.000Z

Prepping tomorrow´s .....no, today´s program for Radio Norte 89.4FM
Just stepped in from Womad Las Palmas, and got the word on this......
New single will be out early December....shop for Christmas with a difference.

One of Womad highlights was Concha Buika.
Piano, Drums, Bass, Voice, 100% conviction, passion, soul bared for all to witness.
Nex´ level funkjazz business on some classic Spanish compositions, that Concha has ripped the rulebook on.

Program two for Radio Norte today will be a 60 minutes non-stop action with hits from Palestine, Bunny General, Coki and Rachid Taha, who will be performing in Tenerife in two days.... The program should be up and running at 21h00/9pm at 89.4FM, tonight.
Last week´s pgm could get loaded as was expected....something about too much bass, not enough memory in the computer?!

Bush, Canada, sucky sucky

2007-11-15T11:33:00.000Z

It´s a damn shame to see the Canadian government capitulating to the US regime instead of respecting their own parliament. Women in pink are now considered too dangerous to be allowed into Canada!

Hightower on the lowdown

24-N Manifestación por la conservación del medio ambiente

2007-11-13T13:58:00.000Z

Tacoronte Se Mueve

24-N, yeah, Valen and countless others are working hard to defend what little soil there is from the overwhelming onslaught of cement and raising of towering oversexed cranes that appear to reproduce and lightnin´ speed and try to block vision of the muscular volcano El Tiede. 24-N, damn Womad weekend in Gran Canaria, what a beeyatch! Joper, priorities are a bastid!

Note on the track used in the video, much thanks to Nacho 4 President, and to Julio , the shepherd that made himself available to speak his part in front of my sock-covered mic. Big thanks to Valen also, for asking for the track, and putting the video together....and for also setting up www.earconditioning.net. the mother to this page. Where is the link to her webpage? VAlen, Valen, can you hear me?

More has come

2007-10-30T09:46:00.000Z

Following on from the recent post about the Maori Resistance, pinch here
for The Guardian´s take on events, which appeared today.

Much thanks to all those that came out to Espacio La Casa in La Orotava and supported Beatal, our little fiesta for Radio Pimienta, which was naturally broadcast live. Those present or tuned in, witnessed some cracking tunes covering a Global Flow from Dab Maia, jazzed-up flavours from Eddie Souzzo, choice breakbeats from BFunk!, and MAD delivering the dancehall, drum an´ bass steppers. During everyone´s set i was pestering them, "What is this, who is this?" That´s says it all.

Just jammin´ with BerroFunk at Beatal /Radio Pimienta.

To the gente that came out the following week for the open-air rain-soaked fiesta that was part of the Festival de Cortos, also in La Orotava, nice one for staying right to the end despite the rain and cool temperatures. Thanks to G´sus for putting in the good word.

A good friend as hooked me up with a shepherd who added some vocals and bells to the Arando track that i´ve got up on myspace. I´ve just given a rough version to Tacorontesemueve for their YouTube video centered around the Nov. 24 manifestacíon regarding the destruction of homes and land which is running at a fast pace. Should be up and running from tomorrow.
PEace

Our man in Aotearoa - Beatal - 09.10 Playlist

2007-10-22T09:06:00.000Z

Who is that man? People have been asking since putting up the picture above here and here

The news of a recent police raid in Aotearoa (commonly known as New Zealand) drifted past me, then i thought about it and checked a bit more....
When Fun-da-mental first visited that country for the Big Day Out festival we were warmly embraced by DTL, his brother George Nuku, Stinky Jim, bFM Radio, and Tame Iti, to name a few.

Tame Iti is a major component keeping Maori issues at a forefront. His actions within the community have done much to rile the Paekhi (white) establishment, but first and foremost maintain a level of pride and knowledge within a community/people that have been on the receiving end of the worst that can be heaped on a people.
We were told that he attempted to directed his people away from in-fighting that came to the world´s attention through the film Once Were Warriors - Your brother is not your enemy, the enemy you should be directing your energy towards is over there, sitting pretty.

On one occasion he bared his buttcheeks as the Queen Lizbeth gave a speech in his neighbourhood. The Maori affinity with the land is no joke, and is something that either the Paekhi don´t, won´t, never will care to understand, or they believe that it is their divine right to be champions of ´uckery and feel that the world is theirs for the taking.

When Maori are born, the placenta is buried in the ground, reinforcing their connection with the Earth. To have the head of the British Empire come down and give blah blah to the willing ears is an assault too much for those that matter.

I asked a friend there what the scenario is like at the moment, and he described it as "odd, the cops have rightly had a ton of shit of late so its well strange that they've gone on some kind of activist roundup which is what it looks like...but if theres only a few firearms charges i suspect shit will go down majorly. There's a lot of talk but NO politicians (bar one fruitcake) have said a word, which is again odd."

Resistencia del Pueblo Tuhoe

Te Mana Motuhake o Tuhoe

Tame Iti / Open Project

George Nuku / Moko

You can also check an interview with George Nuku here.

Beatal / Radio Pimienta
Saturday past, (20.10) we folks at Radio Pimienta opened the doors to all and tried an early Saturday evening thing with live broadcasting of sets by Dab Maia, BFunk and Eddie Souzzo, as well as MAD, host of the Mextura2 program and myself. High grade musical joints covering the Global beats, Afro-beaks, Jazz jumpers and Ecletic sounds swirled in the air among new and old friends. We definitely have some quality selectors here, despite the deluge of punchy-punchy house that gets played in 99% of the venues here in Tenerife. Look out for more events of this nature should you be in Tenerife.

The radio gig of October 9th fell on the 40th anniversary of the death of Ernesto Guevara, so grabbed a few tunes with revolution in mind....which actually is normal for my sets, but you get the idea should you read on, or be an irregular listener to the program.

Ear Conditioning
Playlist 09.10.2007

Grounation / Bongo Man
Thomas Mapfumo / Handinbotya · I´m not afraid (Real World)
Joe Strummer / Filibustero · Walker Soundtrack (Virgin)
Ernesto ´Che´ Guevara addresses the UN General Assembly
Fela Kuti / Water got no Enemy
Noam Chomsky / On Terrorism
Dead prez / I´m a African (Sony)

Sizzla / No time fe gaze (Greensleeves)
Dam / Mukadime (Red circle Music)
Company Flow / Patriotism (Rawkus)
Public Enemy / Rebel Without a Pause (DefJam)
The Clash / Washington Bullets (CBS)
BAD SoundSystem / D ke sirve el dub (Sustraies Blai)
The Selector / Celebrate the Bullet (Chrysalis)
The Clash / Let´s go Crazy (CBS)
Fermin Muruguza / Nazio ibiltaria naiz (Metak)
Darando / Let me people go
Herbie Hancock / The Prisoner
Radar / Radar saves Tibet
The The / Sweet Bird of Truth (CBS)
Amit / Swaztika (Commercial Suicide)

Culture Club feat. Captain Crucial / Murder Rap Trap (Virgin)
Mad Tune / Darker Dub
Vivian Jackson / Revenge (Prophet)
Shitmat / Shopliftin´ Gabba (Planet Mu)
The Bug feat. Killa P & FlowDan / Skeng · Kode 9 Remix (Hyperdub)
Carlos Puebla y sus Tradicionales / Hasta Siempre

Keeping Real It American Dream

2007-10-04T09:44:00.000Z

I am not really aware of the music and lyrics of David Banner....i´ve seen people i respect mention him....(file in memory bank until further notice) then i came across the following clip.
Master P, David Banner and Michael Eric Dyson at the US Congressional Hearings about Hip Hop.

Check this for more on Michael Eric Dyson. He to is new to my sphere, but he´s somebody to take note of for his insight and obvious commitment to bettering where we are. What he saying makes me think of Malcolm as a mover of people to greater heights. He checked misogyny good and proper.

Interesting for me to see Master P here, when i worked for Virgin Records i handled his No Limit label, which was hot as hell at the time. He definitely knew what he was doing. All his albums had the artwork for all the albums slated for the next year and a half....so people knew what the album was gonna look like well in advance, smart cookie. No Limit could release a shit sandwich pressed onto cd and it woulda shipped half a million. He once came over to Europe, accompanying his son, Lil Romeo who had an album out. I found P to be a complete dickhead, throwing his weight around, threatening me with a beatdown from him and his crew....not that he would have needed them, P´s six feet three-four, former basketball player size. The Priority label rep, that also came with P and Romeo didn´t fare much better, he had her in tears on a few occasions. Post-Imus, he wants to put out ´clean´records and take responsibility for what he does. I can´t totally take his senate hearing appearance seriously because of clouded judgment from my dealings with him, which is unfair, i admit. He apparently started his label with the money from an inheritance, well, that was the official story, but a former colleague based in the US kicked that one clearly to the curb in no uncertain terms. Former gangster going legit, that´s how he funded No Limit, and he did very well. But that is the American story, or one of them anyhow. He´s a Jimmy Cagney character, that had a father and a father before him. American breed´s certain ism´s and the media, politicians appear surprised when it comes to bite them on the ass. What a way to spend the day.

Everything David Banner and Master P say when it comes to the conditions of which they speak sit barely 15 minutes drive from the White House and Capitol Hill, and the sentators and representatives on the panel have no idea or avoid caring about their needy that live in the Chocolate Cities.

What´s on the table? Racism, Poor-Inefficient housing, unemployment, crime, historical neglect, oppressive police tactics, and the American Dream, Capitalism.
Loved it when David Banner compares himself to the author Stephen King....you´ll get the picture.

Accept no substitutes.

2007-09-25T21:43:00.000Z

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

2007-09-21T17:37:00.000Z

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)

2007-09-15T14:27:00.000Z

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

2007-09-05T22:25:00.000Z

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.

All meat, no fat.

2007-07-10T22:26:00.000Z

Ear Conditioning 10.07.2007

No three minute hero´s here, well not for the first half hour of the program....four songs, 33 minutes, starting with the golden voice of Asmahan, followed by further beauty courtesy of Anuradha Paudwal . According to the info in the link, she accused the Mangeshkar sisters of indulging in monopoly. This outspoken nature at times landed her in trouble as the music directors of the industry feared to face the wrath of Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle and they often avoided Anuradha Paudwal. Many a times Anuradha's songs were dubbed by Lata such as Main Teri Dushman (Nagina)...and here i was thinking that Lata was such a sweet lady!
The punk of Qawalli, Aziz Mian made an appearance last night too. Fun-da-mental performed with him and his group a couple times, including the memorable gig at Brent Town Hall, London. We did two tracks before the gig was pulled, because some people in the audience felt it was inappropriate that us noisy upstarts where sharing a stage with Aziz. Some in the audience shouted "Haram", which was strange considering they were pissed.

Nearly four years ago, an asshole deliberately hit me with his car, breaking my right leg and leaving me for dead. Consequently i wasn´t able to make it to the Peel Session recording of The Bug vs. SoundMurderer, and made do with tuning in. The Bug did pass on a digital copy which begged me for an airing /earing. The Bug stepped up to the plate with Ras Bogle, Warrior Queen and Mexican riding shotgunDigital violence, ragga / dancehaul / bury dem lyrics...serus bizniz.

The Dickheads of the Week Prize is shared by George W. for his consistent manner of saying Fuck You and Sr. Carlos Lugo, recipient of the prize for journalism here in Tenerife. The event was hosted at the Mare Nostrum Resort. Sr. Lugo won the prize (12,000 euros) for two articles in El Dia newspaper on Immigrants in the Canaries, how they aren´t really hungry, but are Muslims engaged in a silent conquest to take over. That ´lock up yer daughters-hysteria´shit never fails to work does it? People are fighting back however, and the recipient of the second place award has returned his prize. Voices of concern should direct their thougths and hit the following emails....these folks work at the hotel that hosted and presented the awards.

mnreservas@expogrupo.com; ehbreservas@expogrupo.com; comercialbcn@expogrupo.com; tcreservas@expogrupo.com; psreservas@expogrupo.com;

Asmahan / Aleik Salat Allah
Anuradha Paudwal / Mere Dost Hindustani from the film Shikari
Aziz Mian / Her Ghadi Iltija Nahin Hoti
Tinariwen / Matadjen Yinmixen

Animal vs. Buddy Rich / Drum Duel (The Muppet Show)
Buddy Rich/ Solo
Max Roach / For Big Sid (Atlantic)

Monaka / Full Metal
Horsepower Productions / Golden Nugget (Tempa)
Prince Fatty / Milk and Honey · Moody Boyz remix
Sound Murderer vs. The Bug / John Peel Session Nov. 2003 (BBC)
The Micronauts / CD3 Mix (Virgin Promo)
Scalper / Feed

Alt Delete Esc / Ear Conditioning Playlist 26.06.07

2007-06-27T08:46:00.000Z

Ear Conditioning Playlist
26 June 2007

Mary Anne Hobbs provided the link to bring Nettle´s Sonar performance to our ear. Abdel Hak (violin, banjo), Jen Jones (cello) and DJ /rupture´s brassic beats and swirling fx hosting the sounds of US soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan asking saying "Are we shooting people or what? I think this guy has a weapon."

Oh, did i mention Afghanistan?
Christian Parenti returned to the country to get more juice about what going on there. "The problem with the US is, they used Afghanistan as a stepping stone to get to Iraq, rushed the whole process and allowed the warlords to take over the government. The US-created Afghan government is a really pathetically corrupt kleptocracy where nothing gets down and most revenue is stolen, and this infuriates the people."

The Superjam with Led Zep bassist John Paul Jones, ?uestlove on drums and Ben Harper had to be served up...and oh, what a dish.

i can´t remember what led me to find Rodrigo y Gabriela, but i am grateful. Judging my their site, thousands have been snared by their fierce dedication to their craft. Metal heads doing flamenco.....uck me. Diablo rojo is an unbelievable piece of music, and when i think it´s just the two of them on guitar, no percussionist, the head rotates Linda Blair style.....goddamm it, i was hoping not to have the combination of letters that make up BLAIR in this week´s post as today the bastard with a T in front of them words resigns as the leader of the UK. War Crimes, war crimes, war crimes. No need for my thoughts on him apparently taking up the job of mediator in the Palestinian situ, ask the Palestinian´s what they think, that should be sufficient.

Anyway, the other hot find of this week was Buraka Som Sistema from Portugal who i first heard on the Babel program on rne (spanish national radio)..... Kuduro....think electro, carioca funk, breaks, block partys, sweat, grinding and yeah your there. Immediately after hearing them on the radio, i dove into net world to seek, but didn´t have any joy, ´cos i didn´t have the spelling right, but then was checking out Maga Bo´s blog and through there i found another jewel. Respect to Maga, who is on tour in europe right about now....need to link with that brother...Dr. Das already has done so on the remix tip.

Patti Smith....don´t know much about her really, or about horses, never the less, her rendition of Smells like Teen Spirit with it´s fingerpickin alt. folk vibe and her emotional vocal do the job superbly.

Moondog / Rabbit Hop (Astralwerks)
Miles Davis / Medley · Gemini · Double Image (CBS)
Patti Smith / Smells Like Teen Spirit (mp3)
Steven Lindsay / Monkey´s Gone to Heaven (mp3)
John Paul Jones, Ben Harper, ?uestlove / Dazed and Confused (mp3)

Konono No.1 / Infuala Ndongo (Crammed)
Muslimgauze vs. The Rootsman / Beirut (Third Eye Music)
One Chip / Trinity Rise (Zora Lanson)
7th Thief feat. Nawazish Ali Khan / Title unknown (M.I.B.)
Swami / Nachna (Nation)
Dr. Das / The Alchemist (VU)
Dr. Das / Free Agent (VU)
Christian Parenti reports from Afghanistan (The Nation Magazine)

Cottonmouth Texas vs. Bill Hicks / Senseless Census · Decadent Dub Team remix
Buraka Som Sistema / Wawaba
Rodrigo y Gabriela / Diablo Rojo
Nettle at Sonar Festival 2007
Eskiboy / Levels (Eskibeat)

Queens of the Stone Age / Auto Pilot (interscope)
Rage against the Machine / Microphone Fiend (Sony)
Slug & El-P / Revolutions (Counterflow)
Prefuse 73 / 7" Message (Warp)
Ricky Ranking / Doogoo Machine (Banana Klan)
The Bug / Live and Learn (Rephlex)

Ear Conditioning is broadcast on Radio Pimienta, La Orotava, Tenerife.
100.3FM
Tuesday nights from 8pm to 10pm
Repeated Saturday midnight.
No, sorry we are not online.

It´s our war, we are responsible....

2007-06-09T23:45:00.000Z

For news, one of the stops is Alternet, and i came across a story about former US soldiers (veterans) that got together under the banner Iraqi Veterans against Wa r
and they have called for the immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces in Iraq;
Reparations for the destruction and corporate pillaging of Iraq so that Iraqi people can control their own lives and future, and full benefits, adequate healthcare (including mental health), and other supports for returning servicemen and women, (which is something Michael Moore kinda tackles with his new film Sicko i think.)
On Memorial Day, when the US remember their war dead, IVAW staged Operation First Casualty in NYC. Several IVAW members, in full military clothing hit the streets of NYC as if they were patrolling in Baghdad, giving unsuspecting Manhattanites a little taste of what is going on thousands of miles away. One of the veterans says in an interview that they returned home from Iraq to find their fellow countrymen and women having no idea about what´s happening in Iraq. Shouting at people to lay down on the pavement, having their hands bound together with plastic cable ties, heads covered in hoods. Hardcore!

Reunion gigs seem to be the new black for the last few summers....actually i think it´s more than a few summers, but anyway, this week a Superjam is going to take place. Sharing the stage will be Ben Harper, Roots drummer/producer ?uestlove and Led Zep´s John Paul Jones......my mind fries at the possible scenario that is going to evolve.

At the beginning of this century i was witness to a collaboration with Gang Starr´s Guru for his Jazzmatazz project. Alongside Guru was Angie Stone and Herbie Hancock. Yep, Herbie Hancock sat next to me at dinner....what could I say? Not much to be honest, i didn´t wanna come off like some jerk, so i kept my mouth shut. All the questions i could´ve asked but was too something not to. The Headhunters, his p-funk inspired period, his soundtrack work....which leads me to The Spook Who Sat By The Door, an uncompromising film centered around the black revolutionaries giving some payback in the vein of the Black Panthers and Franz Fanon to name a few. Herbie Hancock did the music....of course.

Back in 2000, Digital Bled created an album featuring musicians from Orchestra Nacional de Barbes infused with bottom heavy crawlers and lashings of dubtronics, very similar to Imothep´s Blue Print album, which if you like Berber-step you may also dig. Haven´t been able to find anything by DB since, shame.

Ear Conditioning / 05.06.2007

Vieux Farke Toure / Sangaré (Modiba)
Rachid Taha / Tekitoi (Wrasse/Barclay)
Sargento Garcia / Je Seis (Virgin)
Rude Hi Fi / Elzn in Dub (Metak)

GAF / Two more things I need to tell you
Bigg Juss / Moss Pink Coat (Big Dada)
The Roots / False Media (DefJam)
Herbie Hancock / Revenge · The Spook Who Sat By The Door
Herbie Hancock / Training Day · The Spook Who Sat By The Door
Hairy Diamond / Givin Up
Portishead /Cowboys · Christian Parenti / War on Terror
Moody Boyz / Witness the Day
Recycler / 2 Pints Please (Kube)
Kocani Orkestar vs. Señor Coconut / Usti Usti Baba (Crammed)
G.W. Bush / "They want us to leave (Iraq), the world would be a better place if we did...uh..uh"

Digital Bled / Encontrade (Sony France) · Robert Fisk / The Betrayl
Border Crossing / Looking for Mr. Manuva · Mr. Scruff remix
Iraq Veterans against the War / Memorial Day Action
Scott Ritter "..it´s our war, we are responsible."
El-P / Up All Night (DefJux)
Material / Slow Murder (Celluloid)

Bio Muse /Hurra Hurrey (No Label)
Fun-da-mental / Electro G-Had (5 Uncivilized Tribes)
King L Man /FILHSF! (Ear Con)
Swami / Jawani (Nation)
ADF / Melody (Virgin France)

Prince Django / Hot Tip (Upsetter)
Dr. Ring Ding / Bombs over Baghdad (Germaican)
U Roy / Great Psalms (Virgin)
Future Sound of London / Papau New Guinea Dub (Jumpin & Pumpin)
Suga B / Untitled Dub (G-Stone)
Bob Marley speaks about politics

Ear Conditioning 12.06.07

Rhythm & Sound / Imprint (Rhythm & Sound)
Les Juifs d´Ethiopie / Tes lévres ont le goút du miel (Radio France)
Nana Vasconcelos / Futbol (Island)
Fun-da-mental & Javad Salamat Qawal / Just Bubbling (Nation)
Doudou Ndaiye Rose / Rose Rhythm (Virgin France)
Amr Diab & Khaled / Albay (EMI Middle East)

Radiohead / Little Happier (EMI)
Las Ratas / Know Your Rights
Soma Metizo / Had Ur Back (Somamestizo.com)
Tackhead / Crosstown Traffic · Live
TV on the Radio / Playhouses (4AD)
Teledubgnosis / In Heaven, A Devil · The Bug Remix (Wordsound)
Teledubgnosis / 80 Creeps · Techlevel 2 Drum and Bass Head mix (Wordsound)
SUV / Flamenco Cybernetico (Full Cycle)

Max Eastley / Elastic Aerophone (EG)
Shut up & Dance / No Doubt (Shut up & Dance)
Saian Supa Crew / Poison (Virgin France)
Bas-1 & Fanatik / Instant Rap Star (Bomb)
Wayne Lonesome & The Bug / Buckle Up(Shockout)
UFO presents Contact / Class of 89
Top Cat / Champion DJ (Congo Natty)

Indigeneous Resistance / Remember Galdino (tftt)
Indigeneous Resistance featuring Dubdem Sound System, Zumbi and Dr. Das / Instinto Revolutionrio · (tftt)
Indigeneous Resistance / Fuck Babylon (tftt)
Badawi / Stampede (ROIR)

J.Rocc Mix from Peanut Butter Wolf Presents Stones Throw Ten Years (Stones Throw)

Tino / Tino beat (Tino Corp.)
Kids in Tracksuits / We Make It Rock (Dealmaker)
DJ Yoda / Fertilizer (Antidote)
Cabaret Voltaire / Voice of America · Damage is Done (Mute)

I ain´t scared of Al Qaeda, I´m from Brooklyn!

2007-05-16T20:09:00.000Z

I have seen two works now of Bill Moyers, a US journalist that doesn´t sit back and wait for stories to come to him, he does his footwork, and looks for others that also wear out their shoe leather...and those that don´t, simply taking the White House version of events. Much of the samples in the program listed below came from his film on the cost of the Iraqi war stroke occupation. Man, are Halliburton creaming it, and Clinton got into loads of trouble over a blowjob?! Puhhhleese!

Bill Moyers on how the US media failed to tackle their government over Iraq....here too

George Galloway, Respect Party Member of Parliament does his bit also, speaking of the British, Yankee and Israeli attitude to Iran and their nuclear aspirations, which incidentally is no more than what the puppet Shah of Iran wanted back in the day. Coincidentally the British Gov´t have recently been discussing spending 75Billion Pounds on updating their nuclear program.
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament info on the subject

Chris Rock contributes once again with his views on the conservative/liberal debate..."Nobody is just one thing, I got some things I´m conservative about and things I´m liberal about. Crime, I´m conservative. Prostitution, I´m liberal." Also drops the bomb.....eh?! on Al Qaeda, actually on the Bush administration and "Crackas".

Musical gems come from Demon Fuzz, the underappreciated London based AfroFunk group from the late ´60´s.
Late 80´s hardcore group Excel doing their version of Message in a Bottle. I´ve always loved how they tore it up.

Mutamassik and Morgan Craft. Searched for something on Mutamassik, got her Soot label effort, and a disc of producer Fatham Salay that she did some turntable cuts on, so was looking for more and found she´s doing this collaborative effort with Morgan Craft. The book has been shred again.

Even folks that live on an island with plenty of sun need a holiday, so we are bouncin´ hence no program next week, but will be back in time for the launch party for Proximas en Santa Cruz event for the Drone Colectivo. Will be spinning alongside Postman. A chance to dprogram from the electioneering that is currently in full swing leading up to voting on the 27th....I ain´t even gonna go into that now, I´m thinking about packing the snorkel, flippers, goat´s cheese and red wine (vino tinto).

Thanks for your ears, eyes and imagination.

Ear Conditioning
15 May 2007 Playlist

Count Basie / The Daly Jump (Roulette)
DJ Food / Nevermore (Ninja Tune)
Charlie Watts and Jim Keltner / Roy Haynes (Higher Octave)

Baluji / Raag Todi (ARC Music)
Nation World Service / Skanking for Jallunder (Nation)
King L. Man / FILHSF (Ear Con)
Khal Nayak / Cholike Ke Peeche (Outcaste)
Juttla / Ghaber Singh (Nation)
Demon Fuzz / Past, Present and Future (Castle)

Chris Rock / "Bush lied to me. If Iraq were so dangerous, how come it only took two weeks to take over the country? You couldn´t take Baltimore in two weeks."

The Selecter / Celebrate the Bullet (Chysalis)
DJ/Rupture / Little More Oil · Rupture´s Reggaeton Remix (Soul Jazz)
The Bug / www · Kid 606 Remix (Razor X)
Future Sound of London / We have Explosive · Leon Mar remix (Virgin)

Chris Rock talks.."I ain´t scared of Al-Qaeda, fuck Al-Qaeda, I´m from Brooklyn."

Public Enemy / Son of a Bush (SlamJamz)

Bill Moyers on the Cost of War. Halliburton charge the government $100 to wash a bag of soldiers clothes. Blow up a brand new $75,000 truck because they don´t have a spare tire. Just bill the government, the taxpayer, and reap millions in profits.

Zach de la Rocha & DJ Shadow / March of Death (mp3)
Excel / Message in a Bottle (Caroline)
Bio-Muse / Rat Dog (Virgin)
King Tubby / Satta Dub (Tubby´s)
Subcomandante Marcos - "We are looking for another way."
Cuba / Havana
George Galloway MP on Iran, Palestine, Lebanon, Bush, Blair, Omert and nuclear weapons.

El-P / Drive (DefJux)
Shadatek / Brooklyn · Ghislain Poirier remix (mp3)
Pharoahe Monch / What it is (mp3)
Joe Beats / Fade (XL8TR mp3)
Mutamassik & Morgan Craft / RA_P Melank (mp3)
Killing Joke / Butcher (EG)
Fun-da-mental / Parasites (5 Uncivilized Tribes)

Radio Pimienta 100.3FM
La Orotava, Tenerife

In case you didn´t feel like showing up

2007-05-09T00:22:00.000Z

Opinion on the Public Enemy concert here last month was expressed on the forum at http://www.lagenda.com One person stated that the government should not have financially assisted the gig, as "there are several Canarian acts that piss over PE anytime or day of the week." The money would have been better spent on the local rappers. The post did elicit a response asking who these rappers or groups were, and at this time of writing, the seven or eight us that contributed to the ´gig review´ are still waiting with moist anticipation to see who these groups are.

Did I say it before? If not, the concert was a history lesson, covering social-politics, global issues, racism, hip hop state of mind, the Canaries is not Spain issue, funk, soul, WuTang, RunDMC, LL, Led Zep, AC/DC, Sly, Bob Marley, Tommie Smith, 911 is a Joke, Fight the Power, By the Time I get to Arizona, Welcome to the Terrordome, Son of a Bush, 20 years of Public Enemy, now rolling with live drums, bass and guitar. Professor Griff, James Bomb and the S1W´s, the blues delivered by their road manager via harmonica, Jimi, P-Funk, Chuck Berry and Little Richard, the internet, running a tight organization and being in control of your thing. Vision and dedication, insight and understanding. Flava Flav and his drum solo....yep, plus a sense of humour. James, Louis, Malcolm, Huey, Bobby, Muhammad Ali, Martin, Mumia. That sound! Rebel Without a Pause, Can´t Truss It, Shut Em Down, DJ Lord....oh lord, what a solo, completly phhhhucked my head with his decknology and he weren´t smilin....serious as cancer. Chuck blogged that Lord was like Mobb Deep, hadn´t had any clean clothes for like 5ive days, I thought maybe he just had his game face on.

I was alerted to a written review of the concert and notes on the press conference,
where I brought up the issue of the gig having El Dia as a sponsor of the concert, as El Dia have been at the forefront of dissing African brothers trying to reach out for a better life, trying to get to Europe via the Canary Islands.
The writer said PE were on the verge of cancelling the show because of the sponsorship issue raised. Nah, not at all, I think the reviewer was trying to be a hype man like Flava, but he ain´t quite got it yet. Chuck and Griff responded to my information in a clear sensible manner...I didn´t expect them to know about El Dia, publishing articles about Africans bringing Aids and shit, I was just bringing some info to the table. Yeah, people did get tense, but not PE.

One of the issues of living on an island is that everybody knows everybody, and if you don´t play along with certain people, you are gonna get jacked, like not get work or contracts, or advertising revenue, etc. so people hold their cards to their chests, so as not to offend anyone, because that person could be the person writing their cheque some where along the line, and I think that mentality is part of the issue with people not saying exactly what they feel, and maybe siding with El Dia, while El Dia could have spoken for themselves, I mean, as media sponsors of the gig, you´d expect them to have a journalist at the press conference, innit?

Some at the press conference would rather I didn´t bring up the El Dia scenario, but it didn´t kill anybody. I have never had anybody say anything about my colour until El Dia and the nationalist Coalition Canarias political party started with their illegal immigrant subsaharian hysteria bullshit....the ignorant are sucking up the agenda laid out for them by their masters and dishing it out to anybody with darker skin...and nappy heads. Personally, I´m like, Fuck El Dia....well at least the crusty old fool that runs the ship, fuck Coalition Canarias too...their immigrant-bashing actions have been played out before, it just shows how desperate they are in lacking foresight and imagination. They and the people have forgotten that government works for the people and not the other way round. Oh, and fuck anybody that thinks that dressing up as a Sambo and thinking I´m gonna think it´s cool to do so.

There are elections here now and during a debate last week, the heads of the three largest political parties, PP, CC, and the supposed Socialists held a debate, and when the question of Africa came up, two of them said there should be a "Marshall Plan for Africa". Wasn´t the original Marshall Plan used by the US to get a financial strangehold on Europe through the guise of post-World War Two financial assistance? So, now the West can forget about the recent debt forgiveness thing and find new ways to plunder the African continent? Even the Live8 spawned promises of billions of cash never materialized, about ten percent of pledges have been received according to the UN and other sources.

....and now sports!

The PE influence was still simmering in some of of the selection for this week. Dug out some classic joints of the shelves, Fatback, Trouble Funk, WuTang, Cube, London Posse and Jim Ingram´s "fireside chat".
Many years ago, Fun-da-mental had the pleasure of going to Australia and New Zealand alongside Primal Scream and Ministry for the Big Day Out festival tour....some memorable moments let me tell you., but I won´t say more than that right now, except I caught every show of them two bands...full on 200%! So got a couple jams from them in there.

DHS, House of God, a classic old school cut and paste breaks joint.....closing with some gospel from Willie Mae....

Ear Conditioning
8 May 2007 Playlist

The Flaming Lips / After the Goldrush (Caroline)
Panteras Negras / Comunicando (Esan Ozeaki)
Mary Margaret O´Hara / Keeping you in Mind (Virgin)
Tom Zé / Toc (Luaka Bop)
Zim Ngqawana / You think you know me (Sheer Sound)
Natacha Atlas / Duden · Talvin Singh Remix (Nation)
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan / Sari Seri Raat Teri Yaad (Magnasound)
King L Man / FILHSF (Ear Con)

El-P / Drive (DefJux)
Sean Penn / On US TV, he tells it how it should be... "Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld...should all be in fucking jail!"
Fatback / King Tim III (Polydor)
Trouble Funk / Drop the Bomb (Sugarhill)
Ice Cube / Jackin´for beats (4th & Broadway)
Wu Tang Clan / Reunion · Funkstorung Remix (Loud)
London Posse / How´s life in London · Ragga Mix (Wordplay)
Jim Ingram / Homebrew

Primal Scream / Blood Money (Astralwerks)
Ministry / The Missing (Sire)
Ministry / Deity (Sire)

DHS / House of God
Sir Menelik / So Intelligent (Rawkus)
DJ Krush / Transition (Sony)
Roots Manuva / Double Drat (Bid Dada)
Kode 9 & The Spaceape / Nine (Hyperdub)
Saul Williams / Twice the first time
Willie Mae Ford Smith / What manner of man is this

False Media

2007-04-25T07:57:00.000Z

Public Enemy completed their 58^th tour with a performance here in Santa Cruz de Tenerife last Friday. Despite three flights, lost luggage and tired bodies, alert minds were present for the pre-concert press conference. Brother James, Professor Griff, Flava Flav and Chuck D stepped into the room, saying hello to all and shaking everybody´s hand….not sure how many musicians have presented themselves in that manner.

Connor, an Irish born, Canarian-raised radio presenter attending his first ever press conference, presented Public Enemy with a Canarian flag with the PE Logo embossed in the middle, nice touch. He raised the issue of immigration, I think trying to inform PE about what goes on here, and the media distortion of the situation. Either Chuck or Professor Griff, asked if there were people here before the Spanish came, and whether they were black or white. To the first part , several of us said yes, the Guanche, as to the second part of the question….somebody said they weren´t either, which threw a curve in Griff´s head, which was visible on his face, and the words “What does that mean?” came from his lips. I stepped to explain the Guanches roots, when some one else in the background interrupted to talk about the Phonecians. What the Phonecians had to do with Tenerife and the Guanches, who´se roots have been traced to the Berbers, I am not sure, and most of the other journalists in the room had that “What da fuck is he talking about?” face on them. Connor´s question never really got answered, but then it gave me the opportunity to raise the issue of False Media, presented by El Dia, one of the media sponsors/collaborators for the PE concert. The irony of El Dia being part of the PE concert, given their editorial stance and distortion under the banner of reporting when it comes to Africans arriving on Canarian shores seemed to wash over the heads of most, and the two promoters who book-ended the head table were quick to dispel any notion of political connections or sinister motivations, saying the link between them and the paper for the promotion on the concert had nothing to do with the editorial stance of El Dia. Griff said that they new nothing of El Dia´s history, which is natural, and that the promoter has to do what he was to do make sure he has the best promotion for his concerts, and take care of his business. I think I could have raised the issue in another manner, False media, we don´t need it do we? and hit it from another angle, however the shit did seem to hit the fan somewhat, creating a lively debate.

During the press conference we spoke about the N-word and the responsibility of us as artists, brothers, men, in trying to curtail the spread of niggativity. The two Russian visits we as Fun-da-mental had last year resulted in twice being greeted with this word or hearing it in a conversation between the vocalist Shamil and the promoter, who if I recall is a leading Hindu practitioner. I only think of going back to Russia now as an excuse for somebody to call be Nigger again, because that´s all they know. Yes, Fun-da-mental have been confirmed to play at an Anti-Racist event in St. Petersburg in July.

Chuck laid most of the blame at the feet of the corporate music labels whose number one priority is making ca$h money, social responsibility is of little consequence. Our responsibility at the end of the day has to overcome the corporations and PE are a classic example of doing it and leading by example.

Brother James spoke with me afterward on the origins of the word relating to dead, and that is how the white man considered us, since we no longer built Pyramids and were no longer scientists. The music we listen to dictates how we present ourselves and if all someone listens to is constant Nigga this and Nigga that, then that is what is going to be perceived as the norm. His iPod is loaded with classic soul and funk, Mavis Staples, Sly Stone, Funkadelic, Al Green, The Meters.

DJ Ripley http://djripley.blogspot.com hit me up a couple weeks back about the documentary by Byron Hurt,
Hip Hop - Beyond Beats and Rhymes, which examines the representations of gender roles that live and breath in hip hop and rap today. http://www.bhurt.com/
Interview with Byron Hurt in Vibe magazine
http://www.vibe.com/news/online_exclusives/2006/06/byron_hurt_on_manhood_in_hip_hop/

I couldn´t help notice the Thugged out image for the ad for Vibe magazine, which is the main points of discussion of the film.

I asked Chuck about Don Imus, his one word response, ANUS.

Now, hears an head-shaker, Imus gets canned for calling some college women basketball players "nappy-headed hos" and yet Rush Limbaugh plays "Barack The Magic Negro" on his show and he is still on the air?
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/#50996

On a lighter note, check out ?uestlove on his Record Collection and why bootlegs are cool. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62HSuccMUYY

Chuck D on Flava Flav
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlhzKUx2nI4

Rich McLean aka Audio Shrapnel, who I consider one of the best DJ´s I have ever witnessed put together a 25 minute seamless mix of Fun-da-mental material from over the years for BBC Asian Network but they refused to transmit the mix. Mrs. Shrapnel gave me the news like this...

When I spoke to Aki he said "do a best of FDM, ya know, your own perception of what you think are the best material by us".

So Rich and I chose the tracks (16 tracks in 20 mins!!!), and I gave it to Aki the following day (tuesday).

By my understanding the asian network lot had it for at least 5 days but didn't listen to it. Fast forward to this tuesday and Rich gets a call saying they want to do a quick phone interview with him.

Rich being Mr Honesty says "so your happy with the content then?".

Meera from the show goes "what do you mean?"

Rich - "Well it's Fun-da-mental, it's got a strong political messages through it"

Meera - "Oh well, I have to get that cleared"

Rich - "Haven't you listened to it to check that?"

Meera - "Erm...no..."

A text was received by Aki from a bod at BBC Asian Network "if I knew about the content I would've got it cleared".

Clearly, no need for me to comment any further....

This week´s playlist....

Ear Conditioning at Radio Pimienta 100.3FM
24 April 2007

Radiohead · Climbing the Walls / Fila Brazillia Rmx (Parlophone)
Kode 9, Benny Ill & The Culprit · Fat Larry´s Skank (Tempa)
Mark One · Slope (Planet Mu)
Mike Ladd · Feb. 4 99 (For all those killed by cops) (Ozone)
DJ/Rupture · Descarriada / Rotator Rmx (Broklyn Beats)
African Head Charge Meets Professor Stretch · You Learn (OnU Sound)

Konono No.1 · Unguli Wele Wele (Crammed)
Sobanza Mimanisa · Kimwembo (Crammed)
Mad Tunes from around the world vol. 3 · Untitled and uncredited folk music from Greece (Metalanguage)

Grinderman · Depth Charge Ethel (Mute)
Wesley Willis · The Frogs (Sympathy for the record industry)
Kid Koala · Trick or Treat (Ninja Tunes)
Queens of the Stone Age · 3´s x 7´s (Interscope)
Queens of the Stone Age · Quick and to the Pointless (Interscope)

Little Axe · 15 to 4
Vernon Reid · Saint Cobain (Epic)
Georgia Anne Mudlrow · Patience (Stones Throw)
Public Enemy · Pump the Music, Pump the Sound (Guerilla Funk)
KRS-One · Sound of the Police (Jive)
Chuck D · Niggativity...Dare I disturb the Universe (Mercury)
Terrawrecka · Terradome (White label)

Fun-da-mental Radio Mix by Audio Shrapnel
Che bin 2
Bubbleman
Cookbook diy
Spycat
God devil
White tongue
Ja sha taan (jesus & mary chain remix)
Pollution
Sliced lead
No more fear
Electro g-had
No more fear
English breakfast
Dog war
Mera mezab
Screbinicia massacre

The Roots and Lata Mageshkar · In the Music mix up
King L Man · Carcass featuring Arka /Tropico 28 and Scalper
Razhel the Godfather of Noyze · If your mother only knew
King L Man · One36 / El-P · I´ll Sleep When Your Dead Intro

Thanks to Audio Shrapnel, Aki, DJ Ripley, PE, Javi Jiminez, Dani, DJ MAD

Post-OCA Festival Playlist · Ear Conditioning at Radio Pimienta

2007-04-19T09:48:00.000Z

Last weekend we attended the OCA-Festival in the colonial town of La Orotava, and specifically in the Casa Lercaro, what a beautiful setting with a large garden and a cavern-like spot where I´d love to do something special. Friday was the launch party for the event, Randal Graves and G´sus supplied the sounds while others supplied the talk and liquids. I dj´d on the Saturday after the one called Jeff Automatic, who reminded me very much of Andrew Weatherall. As I was getting my records together, he would be telling me about the lyrics in the next tune he had lined up in his G5...."This one is about Aliens who come to earth, and ask ´What is woman?´ He also dropped some early New Order....Ceremony, I think....which I used to have, and is most probably still sitting in the basement of our house in Toronto, nearly 20 years later!

Time went pretty fast on Saturday, and it seemed as if it was only an hour after I started that organizer Carlos Robles gave me the five minute warning.....damn, I had at least three other tunes that had to be played before I retired for the night. Poison Idea´s version of the Go-go´s ´We Got the Beat´ had to be played...I promised Eddie Souzzo something hard and heavy, and the traditional Canarian song ´Punta del Hidalgo´ by Olga Ramos y Agrupacion, which Lee of DigiDub fame gave me just before I moved here. The last time I played ´Punta del Hidalgo´ in a club here, the thicknecked-nobrain security came up to me and said I wasn´t allowed to play that kind of music in their club. Well, that club no longer exists, and I´m still here, so they can sit on the middle finger and peddle. Big shout to those that made the party, from the bar staff, the organizers and crew, the people that paid good money to get in, the guests, and the new friends....you all made it gooooood!

I dropped an email to Le Volume Courbe as I came across her myspace page and she replied, saying that she has completed her new album and had a show in Glasgow soon....so we will have something new to look forward to very soon.

I felt the urge to dig out the first album from Dr. Phibes. For three musicians, they made a lot of noise....yeah, I know one person can on their own...however, indulge me for a sec´....they really turned their instruments inside out with what they delivered. I had the pleasure of working with these guys for their second album when they signed to Virgin Records, where I spent many a year. Their story had a tragic end on a personal note, but I hope Howard, the vocalist and guitarist has pulled through and a new chapter has been opened. Forward people!

More gems here than can be found in a deBeers gold mine......

Ear Conditioning
17 April 2007

Le Volume Courbe / Harmony (Honest Jons/Astralwerks)
Black Francis / What Happened to the Pong (4AD)
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion / She Said (Mute)

Asmahan / Yalli Hawak
Kinara / Abke na sawan barse (EMI India)
Indian Folk Music / Maharati

Curtis Mayfield / Pusherman (MCI)
Defunkt / Self Disclosure (Island)
African Head Charge / Positive Thoughts and Mind (OnU Sound)
Music from the Angolan Border / Women´s Initiation Song (Lyrichord)
Laventille Rhythm Section / Rhythm 1 (Honest Jons)

Dr. Phibes and the House of Wax Equations / Mr. Phatasy (50 Seel Street)
Dr. Phibes and the House of Wax Equations / Mirrors (50 Seel Street)
Bob Mould / Sunspots (Virgin US)
Grinderman / Go Tell the Women (Mute)
Public Image Ltd. / Careering (Virgin)

Inverse Cinematics / Seven by seven (Faces)
Overtone / Give it Again · Inverse Cinematics mix (Redbud)
Stereotyp / Jece Valadáo (Man)

The Roots / False Media (DefJam)
Public Enemy / Public Enemy No. 1 (DefJam)
Dalek / Antichristo (Ipecac)
Public Enemy / Brothers Gonna Work it Out (DefJam)
Basemental Platform / Gem wit Slugz
Daedelus / Fallen Love (Mush/Ninja Tunes)

Badawi / Enter the Heretic (Ashphodel)
Loefah / Bombay Squad (Reflex)

Photo courtesy of Miurihausen

The Volume Curve

2007-04-11T10:55:00.000Z

Ear Conditioning
April 9 2007

Le Volume Courbe translates as ´the volume curve´ and is apparently inspired by the do-it-yourself ethos of Nico among others.....(I don´t know too much about Nico to be honest, apart from the obvious Warhol and Velvet connection, and then recently read that she was a racist bitch http://music.guardian.co.uk/rock/story/0,,2034607,00.html) but I digress....the album, ´I Killed My Best Friend´ is a true original piece of work aided by the likes of Hope Sandoval, Kevin Shields and Keith Tenniswood. The opening track´s vocals sound as if they were recorded on my original cassette player that my mum gave me when I was ten years old.....and that is not a dis´. The vocals are countered by a melody reminiscent of a harpsichord. There is also a cinematic vibe to the album...I hope she is getting lots of people looking her way and copping this album. This is definitely a punk record-very experimental, bilingual vocals, heartbeats, tender guitar notes and more...go seek. It just hit me as I write, if you liked Tricky´s ´Aftermath´ etc. you´ll dig it.

Stretch Armstrong, the legendary NY hip hop DJ used to have a radio program with Bobbito in the 80´s and 90´s and he has digitalized thousands of demo´s that were sent in. I bagged the demo of MF Doom, which apparently was recorded while Doom was staying at Stretch´s apartment. http://konstantkontakt.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html
100% Hip Hop purity.

That´s enough blurbage from me this week. The playlist of yesterday is as follows......

One Flew Over the Cuckoo´s Nest Soundtrack / Act of Love & End Credits
TV on the Radio / Wash the day · Live at Amoeba Music (Amoeba/Interscope)
The Clash / Car Jamming (CBS)
Talking Heads / Crosseyed and Painless · Live (Sire)

Benoint Pioulard / Together and Down
Le Volume Courbe / Who are You? (Honest Jons/Astralwerks)
www.myspace.com/levolumecourbe
The Melvins / Civilized Worm (Ipecac)
Las Ratas / Know your Rights (Rebelde)

Sonny Rollins / Wail March (Blue Note)
Miles Davis / Little Church (CBS)

Sons of Arka feat. Prince Far I / Throw away your Gun · Live (Arka)
Jah Woosh / Woodpecker Sound (Trance/OnU)
Primal Scream / Wise Blood from Echo Deck · Remixes by Adrian Sherwood (Creation)

MF Doom / Elite Scooby Doo Shit (mpfree)
Pete Rock & CL Smooth / T.R.O.Y. (Elektra)
Saian Supa Crew / Ring My Bell (Source)
Tes La Rock / Upside
Dub Gabriel / Mash Out (myspace.comslashdubgabriel)
Sofa Surfers feat. MC Santana / Selling Souls · The Bug Remix (Klein)
Burial / Nite Train (Hyperdub)

Doudou N´Diaye Rose / Rose Rhythm (Virgin France)
Fun-da-mental / The Truth Commision from The Peel Sessions (Strange Fruit/Nation)
The Roots feat. Dice Raw / Da Lesson Part 1 (Geffen)
Common / Funky for You (MCA)

Thanks to Errol at Astralwerks, Dub Gabriel, Javi Jiminez, Nacho, Twoey of Las Ratas, Stretch Armstrong, and the singers, players, DJ´s and producers.

Ear Conditioning 03 April 2007

2007-04-09T11:28:00.000Z

Ear Conditioning Playlist
April 3, 2007

Accept no substitute

You sold weapons to Iraq, Great Britain
You sold your soul to America - the Devil, Great Britain
You haven't got no religion, Great Britain
Do you really believe in Jesus, Great Britain?
Thou shall not kill, Great Britain
from "Great Britain" by Scorzayzee

I am trying to play hip hop that does not denigrate the brotherhood by constantly referring to the N-word...but I missed a couple in the Dangermouse produced Grey Album feat. Jay-Z and The Beatles, apologies for that. Dug out the Like Water for Choclate LP from Common, and even that was littered chock full with da word...damn, a bit depressing as Common is supposed to be a brother that steps outside the usual boundaries of hip hop.....so until I edit the track myself, it will have to stay on the shelf for now. His original name was Common Sense....uh?
I think we do have a responsibility as hip hop is a world wide thing, and it has got to a state where we can go to any country in the world now, and be called ´Nigga´....nah, not my cup of tea.
"Oh, your getting old!"
To that, I say, "Everybody is getting old, unless your dead!"

Finally got my hands on the self titled debut album from Vieux Farke Toure, and really into the sound of the calabash. One of the players on this album, Hassey Sarré performed with Afel Bocoum at last year´s Womad in Gran Canaria...and is well remembered for his smile which radiated throughout the venue for the entire concert.....and his playing of the njarka (spike fiddle) was not to be laughed at either.

I had one foot about to come into contact with the pavement outside Jumping Man Records http://www.jumpingmanmusica.com the shop where I purchased the Farke Toure album, when Lupi the proprietor put on a piece of music that caused me to turn to ask who was? Stanton Moore was the reply. Never heard of him...until then. I happily passed some more money to Lupi. I wanted to ask him if he would present a session on Ear Conditioning, and he replied he too has a program, at a Radio Campus, which is part of the La Laguna university here in Tenerife...I´ll get him on one day though, maybe we can do an exchange, as our respective programs do not reach each others airwave space. http://www.rcampus.net

This coming weekend I will be DJ´ing at the OCA Festival, www.oca-tenerife.com which is one of few events here that are not mafia run. Also on the bill.....Mini Market, Randal Graves (DJ Set), Tamgo, G´sus....(who used to work at the Rock City in Nottingham.....saw Ministry there yeah!!!!) Tamgo, Jeff Automatic and Harry S. Morgan to name a few. We are doing our thing at the Zona Kiu in La Orotava, so if yer in the area on Saturday April 14........

Public Enemy are due to perform in Santa Cruz next week....I am not quite sure how the right-wing newspaper El Dia got involved as one of the sponors of the PE gig, as they do nothing but invent and publish lies about the immigration scenario regarding people coming from the African continent. I´d love to talk with Chuck about that, but it seems as if my requests for an interview with him have fallen on deaf ears, but I will continue to try. Has it been really been twenty years since I saw PE at Toronto´s Masonic Hall?

The day after PE perform, we will be returning to Santa Cruz for the Nick Cave solo concert. Does solo mean just him on his own? The word solo suggests as much, but I don´t think it will be just him. I´d like to experience Grinderman live. Please consider a return to these shores with your fellow Grinders, Mr. Cave. I always remember us passing each other on Portobello Road, London a few years back. Nick Cave, looked healthy, he had a tan, I´ll never forget it.....maybe I has this pre-concieved idea that he was paler than pale itself. Anyway what is important is his work, and it works.

Funkadelic / Funk gets stronger (WarnerBros.)
Dangermouse / Moment of Clarity from The Grey Album, Jay-Z meets The Beatles (mp3)
Scorzayzee / Great Britain (Out da Ville)
Murs & Z-Trip / We will rock you (Definitive Jux)

Vieux Farke Toure / Sangare (World Village)
Vieux Farke Toure / Tabara feat. Ali Farke Toure (World Village)
Circus Klezmer / Odessa Bulgarish (9é Circ d´Hivern)
Circus Klezmer / Belz (9é Circ d´Hivern)

Scott Ritter / Anti War (mp3)
"I call myself part of the anti-war movement even though I´m not a pacifist, I´m anti-war because I´ve been to war. War is the most horrible thing mankind can inflict on mankind because war is only about man killing man, that´s what it does. That´s what happens when you go to war."

Grinderman / Depth Charge Ethel (Mute)
Timezone feat. John Lydon & Afrika Bambaataa / World Destruction (Virgin)
Grace Jones / Private Life Dub (Select Cuts)
The Art of Love / The Perfect Man read by Sally Dexter (Virgin)

Exclusive Mix Session by Audio Shrapnel
N.A.S.T.Y. Crew / In the Place
Taz / Can´t Contain Me
Krazy Baldhead / Revolution (Para One Remix)
Freddy Fresh / Smokin´
2Digital / That Fucking Bongo Track
Vex´d feat. Orifice & Dubbledge / Bollocks
Bonde Do Role / Melo Do Tabaco
Slimting Recordings feat. L.O.C. & Shizzle / Represent
Sound Revolution / Last Wave
Bird Peterson & Chris Vodka / Bumptard
Damian Marley / Jamrock (Poj Masta Remix)
Moody Boyz / Witness the Day

Mix Sesssion by DJ Hatcha
Tracklisting temporarily unavailable, sorry, but I do know that the ever dependable Kode 9, Loefah and Digital Mystikz were in the mix.

Stanton Moore / Poison Pushy (Telarc)
Unkle / Guns Blazing · Drums of Death Pt. 1 (Mo´Wax)
400 Blows vs. 23 Skidoo / F.U. GI (TigerSushi)
Samuel L. Jackson /"AK47" taken from the film Jackie Brown
"When you positively absolutely need to kill every motherfucker in the room.....accept no substitute."