Yes, its been a minute since I updated and I’m soooo very sorry. At least it was with good reason-busy working!

After SFNY, did a few more gigs, including Venus vs. Mars, the 3-Day weekend delight brought to you by DJ Parler where 4 DJs-2 Male and 2 Female-rock all night. We kicked off the first one Presiden’t Day weekend and kept rockin until the club kicked us out so we knew we had something good going. We brought it back Memorial Day weekend to equal success. Definitely honored to spin alongside Parler, DJ Stimulus, and DJ Chela.

Then it was my birthday and I got to spend it with some great friends and relatives. So blessed!

Managed to FINALLY catch Dam Funk perform in NYC at Bowery Ballroom. Monk One and Waajeed kept the funk rolling with great pre-performance sets. Chin-Chin opened up for Dam (not really a fan of their stuff), and then Dam hit the stage with his band, Master Blaster. While I enjoyed the show, it felt a bit static. I’ll blame this on Dam not having a bass player on hand. They pre-programmed the bass and it was definitely funky and I hummed along all night, I feel not having someone doing the bass live didn’t leave much room for improvising and really jamming out like I felt they could.

Photo courtesy of Paper Magazine)

Then, this past weekend DJ Stimulus invited me to guest at his monthly residency at Deity in Brooklyn. One thing about Brooklyn crowds-they love their dancehall. I was happy to oblige. I haven’t spun that much reggae in a minute but I got to do all the classics I grew up listening to.

It got pretty hotbox in there after the reggae came on but it was cool to see a little bashment vibe. I hope to do it again real soon!

Can’t leave you without some goodies so here they come!

First is a (relatively) new Beenie Man joint. Gotta love the Whitney Houston interpolation.
Beenie Man-Skettel Shadow

The next is a new Dam Funk track he posted for download a week or two ago for just 24 hours Here’s your second chance (note: I didn’t get a chance to fix the tags on this!)
Dam Funk-Unreleased Joint

NYC is arguably the best place to be when its warm. All humidity and the odor of garbage in the heat aside, its GREAT here. Great restaurants and bars with outdoor seating, walks and bike rides, Shakespeare in the Park, live FREE shows with all your new favorite acts-we’ve got it all! The vibe and spirit in the city is just immeasurable in the summer and its always good to start it off right.

And that we did, thanks to a few great guys from San Francisco.

(Clockwise From Top Left: King Most, Moi, DJ Moma, Rameen, Freddy, Marky, Dee, Monk-One. Photo by Human)

SFNY was greater than I had ever expected. The weather was fantastic and we had over EIGHT hours of non stop dope music from a great group of folks that I’m honored to be peered-up with. Monk-One and mOma are 2 NY DJs I’ve admired for some time and to be able to rock with them was a blessing. Marky can get a party started. Freddy spins ONLY vinyl (!!!) and has a bicoastal flavor for dance music. He was rockin some hip-house that had me on the floor. King Most has these crazy edits and mixes and I did what I absolutely hate when people do-I just stood and watched him work instead of enjoy myself. I soon snapped myself out of that though b/c I love to dance and the tunes were hard to resist for very long.

Here are some more shots of the day.

After DJ Auto and Marky warmed up the crowd, I kept it simmering with my set.

When the sun set, we all just took turns back on the wheels because the crowd just would not stop!

If you love hip hop, funk, soul, boogie. house, afro beat, latin jazz, reggae, 80s pop and were there that day, you got your fill. This was the best way to kick off the summer. Even the Village Voice got up on it. I only hope the rest of it is full of as many good vibes, music, and people as there were on Sunday.

I want to give special shouts to Leonard, JP, and The Mighty G-Man who co-hosts The Underground Railroad in NYC (this show is one major reason why I’m as big a hip hop head as I am)  who also helped keep the crowd moving by MC-ing alongside our illustrious host, Dee.

Though it wasn’t played that day, this song I’m leaving you all with would have fit right in and is currently my newest obsession. Dee sent me this via King Most. Its a remix of Ryan Leslie’s “You’re Not My Girl” by DJ Big Jacks. I have no idea who he is other than he is from Canada and is obviously magical. I played this song and all of a sudden I was wearing a dress with shoulder pads, my hair was teased, and I had on tights with rhinestones on them and I nearly shimmied myself into a seizure b/c of his blend of Leslie’s vocals with Sherrick’s “Just Call”. I did find these two websites on his Facebook (no stalker-o) so let’s all get familiar. Catch up is probably more like it.

Ryan Leslie-You’re Not My Girl (DJ Big Jacks Call Me Mix)

I’m super excited about my next gig this Sunday.

3 NY DJs

3 San Fran DJs

1 amazing rooftop in Manhattan

1 lovely sunny Sunday

Massive Selector is back again to do their second installment of SFNY, a party bridging 2 of my favorite cities in the world.  Its going to be a day of great folks, amazing music, and good vibes all around. You have to RSVP for more details

You can also check out a quick mix and interview I did with the homie Dee for the party here. There are also mixes by the other DJs spinning the event and theyre all dope: Monk One, King Most, MoMa (whose Good Spot party on Mondays is KILLER) as well as Marky and Freddy. Can’t wait to rock with them all! Hope to see you there .

After my post and giving the album more spins,  I had to say I still wasn’t as amped about Quadron as my BFF Dee or DJ Brainchild, who is pretty much the reason why our circle was put on to them.I was definitely far more warmed up than I was after I posted about them and kept the album, also titled Quadron, on my iPod for a few more weeks, but I wasn’t head over heels. However, something has occurred since that post that has made me really eat my words.

I’ve seen Quadron perform live.

Quadron has been signed stateside to Plug Research (who also have such awesome artists on their label like Bilal, Shafiq Husayn, and Om’Mas Keith) and are now starting to make their way around the country to meet their growing fan base. They performed in LA recently and did a very small, intimate show at the Cornerstone/Suite 903 offices. I have no sort of pull so Dee, being the tastemaker that he is, let me tag along on his invite.

All that was set up in the room was a mic, midi keys and controller, and a laptop. They did a 3-song set of Pressure, Simili Life, and Slippin. I have to say that Coco’s singing is the truth. Sometimes in an intimate setting like that people are very conscious of their sound and not in a good way-either they hold back or ham it up. There’s something about being very present in a space but yet you are able to express what you need to without giving it all away and not being reserved. Coco definitely was able to balance and had the group in attendance bound. Robin Hannibal on keys/production/co-writing just brings it all together. Speaking of Robin Hannibal, why the hell didn’t I put 2 and 2 together and realize that I was already familiar with him musically from Owusu and Hannibal???? Seriously, if you haven’t heard Living With Owusu and Hannibal stop reading this and get yourself to iTunes or Amazon and buy it. Its just got everything-broken beat, Beach Boys covers, sexy soulful strut music, futuristic funk, all that. I’d do it no justice trying to describe it any further. Listen for yourself. However, this little fun fact was not what turned me over to them. Their performance did that. I know a lot of folks in the “audience” were familiar with them but a lot were not, yet they managed to captivate every single one there, including myself, with just 3 songs and 15 minutes.

So why didn’t I like their album on the first go-around? I don’t know! Living with Owusu and Hannibal immediately clicked for me and Quadron just didn’t-not that the two are entirely comparable-they are not at all. I’m just going to chalk it up to not wanting to hear something so deep and moody at the time  which makes sense why I dug  “Jeans” which is more upbeat and why I stupidly threw out that Little Dragon comparison. (Which also explains why I dug Machine Dreams more than Little Dragon since that album is also far more upbeat). I’m in far more somber moods nowadays so Quadron is fitting right in . Jokes. However its playing off well with Living With Owusu and Hannibal, which I’ve put back on my iPod and I’ve been playing the two albums all morning quite happily.

I can’t wait until June 24th. You’ll soon know why.

 
(photo by Joann Gomez)

Wow. I think after 20 days, I’m recovered. What a night!

Seriously, we (RareForm) do this every year because of the outpouring of love and support folks have for Dilla’s legacy. Its really amazing. We had no clue that when we did the first one at Galapagos Arts Space, that we’d be going strong four years later and beyond!

We raised $4,400 this year! That’s a thousand dollars more than we raised last year! The J Dilla Foundation is incredibly grateful and they are already putting that money to good use and have already located music programs that can benefit from the money!

While DJs Parler, Low Key, and myself held it down in the lounge, DJ Brainchild was absolutely killing it on the main stage with some live blends with some Ruff Draft acapellas he created. He did one with “Nothing Like This” which was really dope.

There was just a ton of great energy in the room when it came time to introduce ?uestlove and Dilla’s mother, Maureen “Ma Dukes” Yancey (!!!) to the crowd. ?uestlove literally stayed up all night to prep his set and performed in his pjs! The Roots recreated 70 something Dilla beats for the occassion, and we got to hear quite a few woven into ?uest’s set. It was truly a fitting tribute to a great friend of his and I’m glad he was willing to share it with the rest of us.

We are really forever indebted to ?uestlove for bringing Donuts are Forever to a whole other level.

Y’all really don’t want to hear any more of my take on it when you can see and hear a bit of what went down, do you? Of course not.

You can see some photos as well as video of Ma Dukes greeting the crowd on our Donuts Are Forever website.

And since I’ve been away so long, I’d like to do some penance by sharing with you some of the “sandwiches” of Dilla beats that The Roots recorded for ?uestlove’s set. You can download them here.

Finally, there are so many folks to thank and I’m going to try and do this now. We couldn’t do this without the help of: Brooklyn Bodega, DJ Parler, DJ Brainchild, DJ Lowkey, Okayplayer.com, Stones Throw Records, Hot Mop Films, Decon, Rule4080.com, Richard Louissaint, N. Corren Conway, Liz Allen, and Joann Gomez.

I’ll always have a Valentine as long as I have music. Come through to Fat Baby on Sunday. DJs Chela, Stimulus, Parler, and myself will be spreading the love in a friendly battle of the sexes.

So Wednesday was my designated “CMJ Day” where I decided to take in a couple of the shows the festival had to offer. Here’s a bit of a rundown of what I saw and heard.

DROM-Brooklyn Bodega Showcase

I started my night here with the homie Dee Phunk from Trees for Breakfast. One thing as a club/show patron and a DJ that I can’t stand are venues with sub-par sound. Its definitely not cool when its a bar or lounge with DJ setups, but its really unbearable when you have a stage and call yourself a performance venue! For that, Drom gets 2 thumbs down. In addition, they charge $7 for Budweiser. WTF.

Brooklyn Bodega puts on several shows a year including the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festivals, which is arguably one of the best NYC summer events every year. They also do an annual showcase in conjunction with CMJ. It is an opportunity for us to get familiar with some dope up and coming artists as well as see more established crews. This year’s lineup included singers Kimberly Nichole and Jesse Boykins III, The Chosen (who are signed to the Bodega’s Savannah Boogie Label), Diamond District, Tanya Morgan, and Pacific Divison aka Pac Div.

I honestly can’t say anyone had a particularly good or bad performance due to the sound, but every artist who performed is definitely quality. So instead of telling you what I thought about each, I’ll just give you some info on the performers, link up some music, and let you be the judge.

Kimberly Nichole, who I hadn’t heard of before the show, has a really great voice. She just dropped her new album Yellow Brick Journey which you can purchase on her site. She also has a series of videos of her performances as well as some songs streaming as well.

Jesse Boykins III was on next. He too has an album out called The Beauty Created that’s on iTunes right now. He has been performing in NYC and appearing on project with artists such as Theophilus London and Melo-X. He’s got a great sound that’s in the vein of other great contemporary soul singers such as Dwele, with solid production that only enhances the overall experience he aims to create. He also hasn’t boxed himself in as just a crooner-he delves into some upbeat grooves as much as he does sexy slow jams. I hear his next project will have a lot of production by Machinedrum which I am super excited about ( I’ll touch on him another day, another blog entry because I.Love.Machinedrum.)

Diamond District has released one of the best hip hop albums this year. In the Ruff is just straight dope-classic production (by MC/Producer Oddisee) that isn’t trite and no tricks. MCs X.O. and Y.U. round out the trio. They released a clean version for free download that had the internets going nuts. Do the Google (c) G.W. Bush to see if you can find a link since it is no longer available on their site.  The dirty version is on sale on iTunes and the vinyl LP just dropped so get thee to your local record shop! You can also download a new track from them here.

Tanya Morgan also came out with one of the best albums this year, Brooklynati. I am biased when it comes to Tanya Morgan and I am unapolegtically so. I’ve been a fan of Von Pea since The Waa’s (ha!) and heard a few tracks from Ilyas and Donwill when they were Illwill that I dug as well. 3 MCs with varied styles and different backgrounds forming a great group. I highly recommend you buy Brooklynati off iTunes.

Pac Div ended the night, though I left before their performance ended since I thought I was running late. Another hip-hop trio! They are from SoCal and have found fans in folks like Pharrell Williams and ?uestlove. The recently released a new mixtape Church League Champions and have a full length album coming out soon. Check their website for updates!

Crash Mansion-Plug Research Showcase
With VJ Deluge of Punchdouble , MC Melodee , and DJ INT (also known as La Melodia ) in tow, we trekked to the next CMJ showcase presented by Plug Research. I have to say that La Melodia is the shit. MC Melodee is one of the top MCs in the Netherlands and “Time” is a track I love vibing out to. Here’s the video.

 
If you’re in NYC, you have one more chance to catch them live this weekend at Plan B .

So, on to the Plug Research show! Plug Research, who recently released the Shafiq Husayn album I spoke about not too long ago, is building up a pretty good roster of acts. They recently signed Om’Mas Keith (another third of Sa-Ra Creative Partners) as well as Bilal and I look forward to hearing their projects that should be coming out next year. The showcase featured Blu and Exile, Shafiq Husayn, and Bilal, with special DJ sets by Large Professor, Jrocc of the Beatjunkies, DJ Spinna, and hosted by Pharaoh Monche and was held at Crash Mansion.

The venue was a step up from Drom, but there were some sound issues which caused the show to run extremely late. Doors opened an hour later than advertised.

Blu and Exile were up first. Exile is one of my favorite producers out right now. The first track of his I ever heard was “Time Has Come” was an early staple when I first started to spin. In 2007, Exile partnered up with Cali MC Blu for the album Above the Heavens which was a favorite of many a hip hop fan. Blu also did another project with producer Mainframe in 2008 called Johnson and Jonson which you can cop on iTunes. Blu and Exile are working on a new album together which I would expect to be coming out next year. They did a quick set of mostly new tracks with a couple from Above the Heavens and they closed out with Exile just doing some nasty live beats on stage with a turntable and his MPC. On a side note, Blu released a very low-rent mixtape earlier this year (circa Valentines’s Day) called Her Favorite Colo(u)r which I really enjoyed. You can download it here.

Then Large Professor came on stage and DJed a quick hip hop set of straight headnodders-both old and new (so new they had DJ Clue tags on the tracks! yikes!) and kept shouting about how he just wanted to hear some hip hop which I’m always down for. What totally grabbed me about his set is he didn’t DJ with headphones. That’s 20+ years of experience right there (and a great trust in Serato).

Next up, Shafiq Husayn. Apparently there were some more sound issues right when he was about to start his set so there were further delays. He started in with “Nirvana” but his back-up singers could barely be heard. This continued throughout his set. He said this was the first time he performed the album and you could tell. I really think he should have selected the songs that had other vocalists rather than rely on the tracks where his vocals were more prominent since he didn’t always sing on the album. The sound at Crash Mansion wasn’t helping the situation either. I would say the highlight of his set for me (apart from him closing out with Sa-Ra’s “Glorious”) was Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, who was part of Shafiq’s live band. He is an accomplished musician/composer/arranger who did something pretty damn amazing last year: He orchestrated select Dilla tracks and released them with the title a Suite for Ma Dukes. He also conducted a live performance of these orchestrations and I really regret not being able to travel out to California to attend. I was really hoping they’d bring this to NYC!

The album was released on Mochilla  (same folks who brought you KeepinTime and BrasilinTime) so I’m sure a DVD is forthcoming. Miguel Atwood-Ferguson was absolutely beautiful on the violin during Shafiq’s set. I really just zoned out and listened to him for most of the performance.

By the time Shafiq ended his set it was 1am and a sista had to go to work in the morning so unfortunately, I missed Bilal’s performance.

Hopefully my rundown of a just a very small sliver of CMJ happenings in the city makes up for me not posting for a few days. I highly encourage anyone in the NYC area to try and catch the tail end of the festival. There are a lot of great acts performing and many will be dominating your radio airwaves eventually so check them out while they still have drive and ambition to make “good” music!

Alright! So in the interest in trying to keep things interesting and music related while putting you all onto other things, I’m going to try something new. Every week or so (while supplies last), I’m going to introduce you to one of the super-talented people I’ve been blessed to call friends. Maybe we’ll talk music, maybe we’ll talk art or politics, or maybe we won’t talk at all and I’ll just tell you about them. First up, my pal Dee Phunk.

 
If you are ever out and about at a dope party in NY, chances are Dee is either there, helped promote via Rare Form Promotions, or made the flyer or all three. He’s a design geek, music nerd and all around man about town. He’s a great freelance designer  and he also runs a great site called Trees for Breakfast. If you see him, say hello! He’s friendly. Buy him a Blue Moon Ale while you’re at it.

So Derreck and I share music. Mostly, I leech off him. (That’s what friends are foooooor!) So he put me on to this group, Quadron, a Danish group with soul and electronic leanings (side note: what’s up with overseas lately? they are killing it with the new music!). So being the ever opinionated lady I am, I struck up a bit of a convo about their album

me: Hi

Dee: Hello

me: I listened to that Quadron

Dee: Like it?

me: Not really but I want to give it a few more listens. I like Jeans but that song is silly.

Dee: OK

me: I can’t figure out why I dont like it so I need to give it some more plays.

Dee: They’re in that same vein as Little Dragon. Dont you like them?

me: Well I didn’t think LD’s first album was so great. I like Machine Dreams a lot. I don’t really see that much of a similarity between the two even if I just compare their first album to Quadron. Other than that theyre both Swedish [Note: they are Danish. I was wrong] and both have music that is soul and electronic, I don’t think they really sound the same. Little Dragon is a little more bass heavy, Even on the first album. This Quadron is a little more light I guess. I can’t think of a better way of describing it.

Dee: The “soul and electronic thing” is what i like. Thats the meat and potatoes of it

me: Little Dragon executes it better so that it is a little more familiar. Quadron’s sound is more unique. What song is your fave?

Dee: Simili Life and The Day

I’m not 100% sure if Quadron’s album is available for purchase on iTunes but you can check our their Myspace to hear their songs. I have to say the verdict is still out with me as far as whether or not I really like them. I’ll be giving them a listen hard this weekend.

Speaking of weekend…adios! I’m heading out of town for the weekend so no more posts until Monday. Here are a couple of new songs to tide you over.

N.E.R.D. feat Santigold-Soldier
Ok. If this was 2 separate songs-one N.E.R.D, one Santi, they’d be decent. Together, not so much. I do, however, appreciate Pharrell delving into punk waters with that flow.

Theophilus London-Enjoy the Sun
Someone actually told me they were surprised I like Theophilus. I don’t love everything he does but with Machinedrum production, he almost can do no wrong. Machinedrum is the shit.

One thing I love about the internet age and advancement of digital media is how areas that were once restricted to “professionals” with access to very expensive equipment are now more accessible. A lot of great videos being made on small budgets and limited equipment that are absolutely sonning most major record label budget videos shown on any of the music channels. The playing ground is leveling a bit. The following two videos are evidence of this, and of course, the music is pretty dope.

I have to say I’ve been a J*Davey stan for years. “No More” was my go-to intro track when I’d start up my sets when I first starting DJing at venues. My crew Rare Form brought them out to NYC for one of their earlier performances in 2006. In a sad irony, all the work I put into getting them out resulted in me missing the show since I was already committed to a service trip and double-booked the show! It took another 2 years for me to finally catch them live and it was worth the wait. Speaking of wait, hopefully this video means Warner Bros has finally put a timeline on releasing their full length album New Designer Drug so the rest of the world can finally get familiar. You can also check out more on iwantmymusic.mtv.com. VOTE FOR J*DAVEY!

End of Your World (Mama’s Back) from KPL TV on Vimeo.

Another ridiculous video out is for the latest single by the brother-duo Christian Rich. I don’t know much other than they’re from the Chi, remind me a bit of N.E.R.D. (more electro than rock) but can actually sing and rap. Apart from the track they did with Armand Van Helden last year, I can’t say I’ve heard much from them. They’re latest single is “Famous Girl” and this video was done by BBGUN. If the single isn’t available yet on iTunes, it will be soon. All I know is that this is super creepy and very awesome.

Christian Rich – “Famous Girl” (OFFICIAL VIDEO) from By Any Means T.V. on Vimeo.

Summer after summer movie theatres are inundated with big-budget movies. Most of them suck but that doesn’t stop us from going to see them-shitty soundtrack and all!

That’s why its such a breath of fresh air to see one of my favorite MCs and fellow Bed Stuy denizen Spec Boogie and his latest project: Summer Movie Season.

Spec’s favorite films and their scores+ Spec’s rhymes = Blockbuster

Check out the latest for the anime classic Akira. 

Spec Boogie – Summer Movie Season – Akira from spec boogie on Vimeo.

 Peep the rest of the series so far here. The one for Requiem for a Dream is my favorite.