I first met the legendary Pharon Kastro at Secousse when he became our resident MC here in London. Anyone that came down to that night or Palm City Social will know him as being an amazing party starting mic general. Few in the UK know that his band K-Melia were a big deal in DRC Congo which he’s now re-launched with co-vocalists Jazz & LT. Their first release is the Starta EP featuring this dirty Congolese UK funky track we’re loving called ‘Bilokos’ which means recycle.
Buy the Starta EP here
Fresh from shaking the palms at the New York Redbull Culture clash, the excellent Que Bajo team are launching their own label after 5 years of parties blasting their special blend of jump up Afro-latino tropical mayhem. Uproot Andy delivers a sure fire mixtape of entirely his own productions and remixes taking in everything from salsa to Rai. Download it below.
Tracklist:
1. Worldwide Dembow (ft. Pablo Piddy) – Uproot Andy
2. Homenaje a Justino (Uproot Andy RMX) – Grupo Socavon
3. El Forastero (Uproot Andy RMX) – Galileo y Su Banda
4. Raba Raba (Uproot Andy RMX) – Khaled
5. Bassoue (Uproot Andy RMX) – Les Rapaces
6. Guacha (Uproot Andy RMX) – Frikstailers
7. Lamento de un Guajiro (Uproot Andy RMX) – Fania All Stars
8. Luna Negra (Uproot Andy RMX) – Los Cojolites
9. Camino a Colombia (Uproot Andy RMX) – Estrellas de la Kumbia
10. America (Uproot Andy RMX) – Mulatu Astatke vs. K’naan ft. Mos Def
11. Sada Vasda Rahe Punjab (Uproot Andy RMX) – Mahendra Kapoor
12. Sina Makossa (Uproot Andy & Chief Boima RMX) – Les Wanyika
13. Bonina (Uproot Andy RMX) – Siba e A Fuloresta
14. Mangala Special (Uproot Andy RMX) – Kabaka International Guitar Band
I often bang on about my trip to Tepito market in Mexico DF in 2010 where I picked up a sweet selection of pirated cdrs of 3ball, cumbia, duranguense and a load of other regional mexican party styles. A couple of the most exciting cds for me were reggaeton – but not the normal synth drenched smooth Puerto Rican melodic vocal style of the last few years. These tracks were closer to the original brutally funky percussive led chopped up dembow tracks like Tra Tra Tra based around vocal samples. So over the last couple of years, I always seem to throw a few of these down in my own sets and thought i’d share a few.
One track that I loved immediately was this one by DJ Pablito Mix
And this one by Peruvian DJ Yoger
DJ Yoger – La Gente Sabe que somos de la calle Remix
Yoger gets a shout out on the intro of this hammer of a track by a crew of girl MCs, Las Pisikatas.
Los Pisikatas – Leyes de Reforma
and this one by DJ Amparito
Vice recently posted up a really cool short film by Bernado Loyola on the Mexico city cumbiaton scene presenting the inspiring Under Style DJ collective led by Pablito Mix. Vamonos.
Batida smashed it at their recent Boiler room/Studio Africa sets which you can watch here. Make sure you catch them this year. They’ve also recently dropped an excellent free album of remixes by folk like Spoek Mathambo, Octo push and the highly awesome NaZaretH Yumbala remix we put out.
Like their Facebook page to download
Some excellent new SA house jams from DJ Spoko who you may remember collaborated with Mujava on the classic Bacardi house track, Township Funk.
Firstly JB horns punctuate ‘Cucumba’.
And from his new buyable Ghost Ship EP on True Panther Sounds, I’m loving ‘Azange’ featuring vocals from Magaula & Puzuzu from Ghetto Boyz.
Check this In The Studio interview with him at XLR8R
A great Dj set I was lucky enough to catch (Thanks OkayAfrica) a few weeks back by our favourite, Spoek Mathambo at the Diesel+Edun Studio Africa Boiler Room session.
Via Discobelle
Catch me at SXSW with Austin’s awesome Peligrosa crew at middnight on Wednesday 13th March. Can’t wait!
Details here
ChopStar’s legendary OG Ron C gets choppy with Drake. Awesome.
This epic new track by Algerian Londoner Yadi is great for some winter uplifting. Produced by The Very Best, It begins with Baaba Maal’s haunting vocals who’s then joined by Yadi herself as well as The Very Best’s Easu Mwamwaya. A beauty.
Yadi feat. Baaba Maal & The Very Best – Unbreakable
And here is the great new video shot in Casablanca to her debut single, The Blow, also produced by The Very Best’s Johan Hugo.
Recent Comments
where can i get these!?? i want them so bad now!
[...] something conceptually complete I could point to at the end of my visit. My first thought was a DJ ...
i am looking for a latin for a new club.