That Which Cannot Be Bought Or Sold Or Destroyed

I was excited to find in my inbox today a link to a brand new LP by one of my favorite artists from whom I hadn’t heard much in a while: the mighty Mutamassik! It’s called That Which Death Cannot Destroy and the liner notes very plainly state that it “cannot be bought or sold.” […]

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odes to billie joe (riddim meth0d repost)

[Here’s another Riddim Method re-post, featuring a couple mashups which I made all by myself (with the help of Kazaa and Ableton). It attempts to embrace a “riddim method” approach to music blogging — to focus more on musical texts that say things about music than wordy texts. I liked the playfulness and directness, as […]

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Panamanian Reggae Rabbit Holes

Boima’s post about a Panamanian/Nigerian jerk-off made me wonder about this Suku Castro character calling out “TODO MUNDO JERKEANDO!” So I did a quick googlywuzzit on his name and landed on this page, which not only hosts yet another interesting example of jerk practice in Panama (a mix containing no Spanish verses but cut’n’pasting several […]

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Pop Goes the World

There’s little I can add to all the tributes and reflections gumming up the web these days, but like so many others I feel compelled to say something. Inspired even. I found Andrew Sullivan’s and Jeff Chang’s posts pretty resonant, Jason King’s too, among others, and I’ve been particularly struck by all the MJ music […]

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Well-Tempered (& Notso) Sounds for Baby

As can be imagined, I give a lot of thought to the soundscapes my two daughters soak in, especially when so much of it is structured by me — at home, in the car, or anywhere else I can plug my iPod/Phone, whistle a tune, or bang out a rhythm. When I’m selecting a kind […]

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A La Plenísima

Plena is Spanish for ‘full.’ But it has other meanings too, depending where yr @ —                      In Puerto Rico, plena refers to street music played on panderetas (see, e.g., Sorongo‘s comments here). In Panama, plena refers to reggae — homegrown reggae en español in particular. The riddim method has been alive and well in […]

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Covers, Blurbs, y Otras Traducciones

Amazing how an Amazon link makes our book finally feel real. (Pre-orders in teh house!) And though they don’t have any imgs yet, I’m happy to report that I do, and — having lobbied HARD for this particular photo by Miguel Luciano to grace our cover — I’m thrilled to share it with y’all: On […]

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But Siriusly, Folks…Back to Work!

You may have heard, somewhere in the background perhaps, that Muzak filed for bankruptcy. Here’s an MOR-perspective podcast about it, bordering on inanity — A better use of your time & in the pdf-blog spirit, here’s a musicological analysis, written 20 yrs ago (!) by me ol’ advisor —      >> Radano, Ronald M. 1989. “Interpreting […]

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All Your Bass Are Belong To Us

I promised to post about “raveyton” a long time ago, and twice. A recent ghettobassquake post serves as a fine reminder. Noting that reggaeton synths have been “sliding into more Trancedelic wave forms,” Sñr Vamanos acknowledges that “[d]ramatic synths have been there for a while.” Sin duda! Working in an utterly omnivorous genre, reggaeton producers […]

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Giving Away the Ending

It’s been a long time since I’ve shared a mix with y’all (not incl that brief bit for Blogariddims 50). No good reason for that. I’ve been DJing every Monday night at Beat Research and I’ve got as many ideas for thematic, quasi-pedagogical mixes as ever. Blame time (or lack thereof). The time it takes […]

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House Kwasa Kwasa House

I still haven’t been able to send him those guitars, but Red Pepper has the Ruff Riddims studio up and running (and blogging!) — and it’s not like there aren’t guitars or guitarists in Botswana. Indeed, the first track I’ve heard out of the studio, “Dumelang” by Skeat (pronounced Skee-tee), is an ebullient bit of […]

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Holidazeeee

It’s that time of year again, even if the incongruously balmy weather suggests otherwise. So, this past weekend Bec & I made another set of black cakes. This time, in anticipation, we started the fruits soaking in black-strap rum and Manischewitz a couple weeks in advance. And man, did they come out sweet. To vibe […]

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We Be Ilvin

since fruityloopy music by multiculti youngstas has become all the rage, i figure i’m sitting on a goldmine, having run many an FL session with kids in boston and lowell, MA and, kingston, JA from 2002-04. one of my favorite students — b/c of his enthusiasm and aptitude — was a lil dude aptly named […]

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Happy Fi Life

I’ve been playing Mavado’s “Don’t Worry” just about every week at Beat Research recently, and the other day a pretty obvious mashup occurred to me. So I couldn’t resist slapping this one together, even if it means I may not be able to show my face in Cassava Piece for a while — Mavado + […]

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linkthink #2925: Unreconstructed Deconstructionist

CLUB VORTEX MIX MAY 2008 myspace.com:cclubvortexx.mp3 some super summer sounds c/o kkingdomm: freestyle-tinged electro-house/r&b con raveyton b/w self-made remixes!! THIS IS DRIVING MUSIC EVEN IF UR SITTING STILL (tags: DJ mix club remix hip-hop reggaeton rave mp3) 4shared – share folder – baixe malukinha pankadão a trove of eletro melody files c/o CRIADOR eder joe, […]

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Mashachusetts

Tomorrow (Monday) night @ Beat Research, we’re happy to host Boston’s mashup maestro, DJ BC — BC’s been cooking up mashed potatoes for years now, garnering international notoriety with such concept albums as the Beastles, Glassbreaks, Wu-Orleans, and other improbable partners. Although the heyday of the mashup has seemingly passed, with the idea still ubiquitous […]

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Thru the Ringer

Last week my phone got put through the ringer — the rinse cycle, to be precise — and it was pronounced dead on retrieval. So it goes. Today I got a new phone, about which I’m excited, but I’m sorry to say that I lost all of my contacts from the old one. It saddens […]

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linkthink #8340: Zuper Globalized!

Zizek brings to N.Y. its infectious Buenos Aires cumbia beats carolina gonzalez hypes the zzk tour’s NYC stop :: my favorite, perplexing bit — “You don’t hear this music mix anywhere in New York,” said Héctor Arce Espasa, 25, a visual arts student and Zizek fan. “It’s super globalized.” (tags: cumbia argentina buenosaires newyork latin […]

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Critical Distance, Por la Ventana?

¿Qué reflexiones? Tonight in San Fran, DJ /rupture — never one to let his critical eyelids slack — will be digging thru his kumbia krates alongside the Zizek gang. Yesterday, Carolina @ Sound Taste framed her excitement around the neo-cumbia thing (coming soon to NYC) by noting that her “critical distance has gone out the […]

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