Disco get a rebirthing by Scotland’s Prolific DJ and Producer, Al Kent. MundoVibe Interviews Al Kent on his long history in dance music and his groundbreaking disco recordings and his Disco Love series on BBE Disco never died.
Category: Interviews
The worthy successor to Ali Farka Touré. — Bassekou Kouyaté
Mali’s Sidi Touré sings the traditions of his Malian culture and beyond on his Thrill Jockey debut “Sahel Folk”
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Sidi Touré made his first guitar as a child, constructing it from his wooden writing slate in the ancient town of Gao, Mali. Once the heart of the Songhaï empire and burial place of its Askia kings, the town rests between the Niger and the encroaching ocean of sand known as the Sahara Desert. The Songhai empire was the last of the great empires of the Sahel, reaching its zenith under Soni Alibert (Sunni Ali) in the mid 400’s. Sidi Touré was born here in 1959, but to be born a Touré, a noble family who trace their lineage directly from the Askia kings, carried a significance and onus of a past that reaches directly into the present. Like another Malian noble turned singer, Salif Keita, Sidi Touré faced a conflict between the inexorable pull of music and the expectations of family and society. Touré’s family had been sung about, and sung to, by traditional griots for centuries, but until a small boy challenged the rules, the Touré’s did not sing!
[vimeo http://vimeo.com/16190968]
Velanche is the host and producer of Urban Landscapes, the weekly radio broadcast showcasing jazzy and soulful club culture from around the world. The show dives into nu-jazz, broken beat, rare funk, soul, house, downtempo, and related variants thereof.
Launched in January 1998, the show has evolved from its humble beginnings of ambient, downtempo and trip-hop sounds, evolving into its current form.
Velanche has been with KCPR, the college radio station of California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, since September 1997. He was also the RPM Director for the station for four years, as well as the alumni director. He has hosted other shows, and is currently co-host of Club 91, a weekly live dance mix show.
Velanche’s work with Urban Landscapes has earned a respectable following. He has profiled and/or interviewed a number of artists and producers, including Jonathan Moore from Coldcut, Jason Swinscoe from the Cinematic Orchestra, Martin Iveson aka Atjazz, Gilb’r of Chateau Flight (and founder of Versatile Records), Chris Vogodo from Zero dB (and co-founder of Fluid Ounce Records), The Angel, members of Bugz in the Attic, members of the Gonkyburg crew (Swell Session, Ernesto, Mimi Terris, and others), and Magnus Zingmark from Koop among others.
Les Nubians, consisting of Paris-born sisters Hélène and Célia Faussart, return to the world stage with the release of their third album, Nü Revolution, on April 19th via Shanachie Entertainment.
The Grammy nominated duo fully delivers on the promise of their breakthrough efforts with a relentlessly enchanting and energized mix of R&B, hip-hop, African music and other world elements.
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“The main difference between this album and the others,” muses Hélène, “is that Nü Revolution is more uptempo. This album is a celebration of life! We wanted to bring and spread this energy, this joy in a time of uncertainty.”
Indeed Nü Revolution may be the most impressive representation of Les Nubians’ Afropean Soul to date. Featuring special guests ranging from African music legend Manu Dibango, whose “Soul Makossa” crossover classic gets a politically charged make-over, to indie soul icon Eric Roberson, with South African pop stars Freshly Ground, Ghanian-American MC Blitz The Ambassador and Polish MC John Banzaï along for the ride. Somehow, Les Nubians manage to make the blend of so many diverse elements seem logical and organic; it flows quite naturally from their multicultural lives.
TALKING WITH PHILLY SOUL POETESS URSULA RUCKER ON HER FIFTH ALBUM “SHE SAID”
As a poet and performance artist, Ursula Rucker has enchanted critics and fans across the globe with her diverse repertoire, captivating vocals and accessible poetic verse.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, she began documenting her observations of the world when she was just a girl. A graduate of Temple University’s journalism program, Ursula kept her creative writing as a prized, personal possession until she was prepared to share with the world. In 1994, she introduced an open-mic night audience at Philadelphia’s Zanzibar Blue to the beauty and urgency of her poetry.
Word quickly spread throughout the city of Ursula’s poetry and stage performance, which has been described as “strong, vulnerable, wounded and raging.” Producer King Britt invited her to create her first recording, the 1994 single, “Supernatural” (Ovum/Slip N Slide UK).
By John C. Tripp For a music project that began as a little fun on the side, Nu […]
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Three Londoners met in the market one fateful day: Kathrin deBoer (vocals), Ricky Fabulous (guitar) and DJ Modest (decks) struck up a conversation and soon realized they had similar musical tastes. Ricky and Modest, who played experimental turntable and guitar sets in London bars, auditioned deBoer over a cup of tea and Belleruche was born. Now with numerous singles, three albums and non-stop touring behind them, Belleruche are well-established in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and are poised to take on America.
Things began humbly enough for the band. Initially, they released a handful of extremely limited 7” records on their own Hippoflex label, including the ‘Four Songs EP’. These individually numbered 45’s (with hand-printed sleeves) quickly sold out in the UK’s independent record stores and attracted a cult following in the UK and Europe.
With the buzz generated by these singles, in 2007 Belleruche signed to Tru Thoughts Recordings and their debut album ‘Turntable Soul Music’ was released in July of that year to great enthusiasm from fans and the media alike, garnering admiring reviews both at home and abroad. Belleruche’s second, more bluesy sophomore album “The Express” thrilled its fanbase while also bringing them to the wider world’s attention and garnering many listeners. The first single “Anything You Want (Not That)” was awarded the coveted Single Of The Week spot on iTunes and the album hit Number One in the iTunes electronic album chart.
With their third full length now reaching audiences new and old, ‘270 Stories’ sees the trio hitting their stride with style, tying together all that is distinctive about their off-kilter mix-up of scratchy beats, bluesy guitar and soulful, honeycomb vocals that we know and love, with the unmistakable vibe of a band pushing forward without pretension, letting their ideas roam free and lead them to a new place. In their own words it is “layered, tougher, more aggressive and possibly at the same time more introspective” than their previous, highly acclaimed, long players.
Ursula Rucker Speaks with MundoVibe’s John C. Tripp on Her Fifth Recording, “She Said” As a poet and […]
A Mundovibe exclusive interview with Silhouette Brown vocalist Lady Alma After half a decade, Silhouette Brown – the […]
By J.C. Tripp Any serious underground beat junkie of the past decade has heard Moonstarr’s now-classic “Dupont” as […]
By Velanche Stewart A couple of years ago, a tune on Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide show made me happy […]
As Ocote Soul Sounds, Adrian Quesada and Martin Perna, respective bandleaders of famed ensembles Grupo Fantasma and Antibalas create desert- and sun-soaked psychedelic funk that entwines the grit and funk of the gridlocked NYC streets, with the voices and rhythms of the dusty streets of Latin America.
On “Coconut Rock” their third album, the slipped effortlessly into their trademark psychedelic afro-latin funk groove. From the Latin breakbeat rhythms of album lead-off ‘The Revolt of the Cockroach People’ to the cumbia bounce of ‘Tu Fin, Mi Comienzo’ to the easy guitar soundscapes of ‘Vendendo Saude e Fe’ featuring Brazilian songstress Tita Lima, ‘Coconut Rock’ is the third chapter in Ocote Soul Sounds’ unparalleled journey through sonic realms beyond.
The duo of Perna and Quesada developed their musical paths in eerily similar parallel universes. Though Quesada grew up in the Texas border-town of Laredo, and Perna came up in Philadelphia (later New York), both musicians straddled borders literally and artistically. Growing up on hip hop and the jazz and funk it was built on; both taught themselves to play multiple instruments; both had founded game-changing, booty-shaking big bands; and both were deeply moved by a powerful spirit of social and political activism, the spirit that was to become Ocote.
A chance biodiesel breakdown, which left Martin stranded in Austin, led to the two playing around with some song ideas together, hitting the studio and ultimately resulted in their 2005 debut ‘El Nino Y El Sol’. Four years and three albums down the line, they have evolved into a seven-piece live outfit.