R.I.P. DJ Dusk

REST IN POWER

























Gone but never forgotten.

Portishead - Live @ Coachella

I was lucky enough to see this live on Saturday and yes, it really was that good. As incredible as it was, nothing tops seeing Prince bring out Morris Day for "Jungle Love" and Sheila E for "Glamorous Life"! I was buggin'!
I also can't believe the crowd for MIA. Shit was unreal. There were way more people this year than I've ever seen before.

Portishead - Live @ Coachella '08

I...

...am chilllllllllling the fucc out this weekend about to hit Coachella, but if you're in LA be sure to check out JRocc & Friends tribute to James Brown tonight.






Unfortunatley, James Gadson has come down with a serious case of pneumonia!!! He will not be playing with Breakestra tonight.

However, we have confirmed that KAREEM RIGGINS (produced and drummed for dilla, erykah badu, the roots, common and Slum) will be playing with us!!!

Saturday, April 26th 2008
J ROCC, Ms Nelch, The Echo, and ArtDontSleep
present:

A Celebration for the Godfather of Soul
James Brown

Official Release for J ROCC's "James Brown Tribute pt 2" mix CD

and Nelson George & Alan Leeds' "James Brown The Reader:
50 years of writing about the God Father of Soul"

Special Tribute DJ sets by:
J ROCC and Friends

Performing Live:
Funky Drum Master JAMES GADSON feat The BREAKESTRA *Live*
(In a Very Special Funk Connection)

Live Art by:
Kofie

Located @ The Echoplex | 1154 Glendale Blvd | Los Angeles, CA 90026
15$ limited presale available @ ticketweb. com | 20$ at the door
21 + Wiser | 9pm - 2am
For more info: artdontsleep1@gmail.com
www. myspace. com/artdontsleep

If I wasn't doing this, I'd be doing that.

See you on Monday...

Jay-Z x Fela

Mega late pass on this one. This is one of the better remixes of "Roc Boys" I've heard, but I'm a sucker for "Water No Get Enemy". Props to Mike Love

Jay-Z - Roc Boys (Mike Love/Fela Remix)

Funky Sole Mix

I had some free time and put together a mix of some records I played at Funky Sole last week. I tried to keep it somewhat familiar and give some new and old records some shine. Anyway, here it is free to you, all the way live on two turntables with (gasp!) real records! Enjoy. Big thanks to Manny for the artwork.

DJ Day - Funky Sole

Sunday

Syl Johnson -I'm Talkin' Bout Freedom

whoa

En Focus

I'm not sure who Joe Pugliese is (or was), or who the personnel was behind most Hoctor records, but they managed to come correct on this one. I found this record a few years ago just days after the homies from Rehash put me up on another Hoctor record (R** F******, raer). I'd say it was $4 well spent.

Jazz in Focus - Contractions
Jazz in Focus - Theme From Blackbelt Jones

If you want more info, O-Dub had a multi -part blog about Jazz dance records that's worth searching for.
Have a good weekend, urrybody. I'll be back on Monday!

Messie Bessie

I'm not gonna lie. This record just happened to be sitting in front of me and I hadn't heard it in a while so I put it on and recorded it. Some people (cough*Soulstrut*) might classify this as "tepid soul jazz", but they can beso mi culo.

For those who don't know, Shirley Scott was a prolific jazz organist and wife of Stanley Turrentine with an incredible 39(!) albums to her name and a career spanning almost 4 decades. Messie Bessie is taken from her Something LP (Atlantic 1970) which is made up of mostly covers with the exception of this song written by Mrs. Scott. Some of you will probably recognize this cut for the De La Soul sample, but it's a solid song throughout. It's hard to go wrong with Billy Butler, Chuck Rainey and Ralph MacDonald on your team.

I've been going back and re-listening to a lot of old Prestige/Atlantic/Blue Note/Impulse records with this vibe and I think I appreciate them more now than I did when I first heard them. Speaking of, what happened to the art of liner notes? Almost every record I own from the late 60's/early 70's has some in-depth breakdown of the artist and songs on it. We need to resurrect that for real.








Shirley Scott - Messie Bessie

nothing is sacred

Not that this is some kind of holy grail, but just when you finally cop a record someone goes and re-issues it! Such is the game these days.
It's hard to believe this came out in 1982 and was made by a bunch of white kids in the UK. If you like ESG or punk/funk (gag - I hate that label) then you'll dig this. Don't be scurred.

Impossible Dreamers - Spin

I think you can cop the boot 12" at Turntablelab

Daru Spirit

Man I'm out of the loop. My man Junior over at Record Breakin posted this promo by Daru Spirit (part of Innate Sounds with Miles Bonny) hosted by Marc Mac of 4Hero fame. Now you would think I would have heard of this already considering these are my folks and lo and behold I look back and find an email for this promo that must have flown under the radar. Any way it goes, I'm glad I found out about this and I think you will be too...

Daru Spirit - Sampler '08 hosted and compiled by Marc Mac

Be Thankful

...for what you've got










No truer words have been spoken.

I know this has been kind of a shitty week for posting, but I'm doing the best I can with the time I have.
Some of you may already have this, but here's a DJ friendly edit I did of William Devaughn's remake of "Be Thankful For What You've Got" from 1980. Shout out (again) to Mr. Chinn.
Have a good weekend everyone and if you're in LA tomorrow be sure to come by Funky Sole. Always a solid night and it's free so you have no excuse!

William DeVaughn - Be Thankful For What You've Got (DJ Day re-edit)

4-18-08

Pre-orders are already online. Not sure what the situation is with U.S. distribution yet, but I should have a few copies in a week or 2.

Soul Patrol

I'm gearing up for Funky Sole this weekend and I pulled out this old comp while going through my records today. I grabbed this back in the mid-90's when I was a baby in this whole record game (I would say I'm a toddler now ;). It was put out by Soul Patrol who are kind of suspect in the reissue game... but that's another post for another day.
Anyway, I'm glad I bought it because there is no way in hell I will ever own these records. Not only are most of them dumb rare, but paying $1000+ for a 45 is beyond my ballin' comfortability level.
Here's a short edit I did of "Peter Pan" with an extended intro:
Soul Patrol - Pete Pan (re-edit)

So...

I've been crazy busy the last few days so excuse the lack of posts. I DJ'd for Guru on Friday night which was...uh... stressful to say the least.
Shout out to Medusa who was in the house and all my local people who came thru and showed love!

(the dude in the stripes was feelin' it!)


In other news...
Exile just sent me the rough mix of a project he's been working on for the last 2 years in between touring and making beats. It's an album made up entirely of samples from the radio (yes, even the drums) and made with just an MPC. I don't even know what to say other than this shit is beyond belief and has never been done before. You heard it here first so keep your eyes open for it to drop sometime this summer.

And last, here's a joint I've been listening to lately that I totally slept on from Sydney's Katalyst and Steve Spacek.

Katalyst - How About Us (feat. Spacek)
(and here's something I did for the hell of it the morning of the show.)

you know what time it is

Muhsinah

Normally I don't even open those "YO CHECK OUT MY BEATS/RAPS/PARTY/WHATEVER" emails I get on Myspace, but I happened to read one from this girl's tour manager and I'm glad I did.

I have been sleeping for real.

Muhsinah, a classically trained pianist who also happens to make beats and sing is on that next next shit. Some might compare her to Georgia Anne Muldrow, but she's definitely got her own thing going on and I am

Muhsinah - Discovery

COP THAT

Future Shock

Here's James Brown's infamous and short lived TV show Future Shock in all it's 5 minute YouTube glory. I still haven't seen the whole thing but I'm about to cop a bootleg DVD tonight (pleasebelieveit).
The breakdown at 2:24 is . Nevermind the dude humping the couch.