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)

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.

So this past Thursday, it was announced via Giant Step’s humongous mailing list that Erykah Badu would be doing a “secret” show on Saturday night. I’ve never seen her live before and the price was right so I snatched up a pair before they quickly sold out.

The show was held at Good Units, which is a new venue in the sub-basement of the Hudson Hotel. Apparently it used to be a former YMCA. I was expecting something smaller but its a great sized venue. and set up nicely to do smallish, intimate shows and pretty good sized parties.

Doors were at 9 and the show seems to have started soon after. There were a lot of opening acts who did full-on sets. Couple that with  what seemed to be Erykah Badu’s hesitance to get up on stage before 2am, and you’ve got a looooong night.

So let’s start with the first act: MNDR

(I kinda forgot I had a camera so I didn’t start shooting until after her performance. The shots aren’t that great anyway)

I only caught the tail end of her set but I listened to some of her stuff on her myspace page prior to the show. Electro-pop that isn’t annoying. She’s got a good thing going.

Next up: The Tony Castles

Indie rock trio where one of the guitarists (dude to the left) did double duty as keyboardist. Honestly, the sound at this point up until Ms. Badu’s set sucked and I can’t offer an opinion more than I think they were more bad than good, but probably not horrible.

Then: Spank Rock

I’ll be fully up front: while I dig B-more stuff, I can’t say I’m a huge fan. He’s definitely fun and the beats are cool but unless its a raging electro-bash, I just don’t think it fits well on stage at a ticketed show that isn’t 100% geared towards coke binges and grinding on someone’s crotch in sweaty ecstasy. It was a nice way to try and get the crowd hyped for the headliner but between the cruddy sound and some folks plain not feeling the tunes (while there were a lot of ladies in the crowd, not all of them wanted to shake it until Spank Rock’s dick turned racist), I think his performance fell flat. I must commend him on managing to recreate the very same look sported by De’voreaux White, also known as Argyle, the limo driver, in the very first Die Hard.

After quite a long break to hang some huge homemade lighted ankh and a switch from the “DJ” spinning old soul 45s the whole damn night to a cat who played some 90s hip hop to re-heat the crowd waiting several hours for the main event, Ms. Badu finally came on stage, and for those who decided to hang in there, made the annoyance at the wait subside. Thankfully, her own sound guy took over the board because she sounded great.

I can’t say what a typical Badu show is like but the show was seamless! She did songs off every album in their entirety with lots of creativity and improvisation and just blended right into the next joint. It was great. She did pretty straight versions of “The Healer” , “On and On”, “…&On” and did a cool  of “Appletree” that mixed in elements from George Kranz’ “Din Da Da” and Afrika Bambaataa & SoulSonic Force’s “Planet Rock”.  She did another group of songs from Baduizm, Worldwide Underground, and New Amerykah Part I then launched into a version of Outkast’s “Liberation” that really knocked my socks off. She finished off the night with “Window Seat”. Or rather, I finished my night hearing her do “Window Seat” because everyone I was with was either extremely tired or hungry or both and wanted to get the hell out. So we bounced.

I’m super excited for her latest album, New Amerykah Part II: Return of the Ankh, to drop tomorrow. I’m really digging some of the tracks that have leaked so far.  I’m feeling one in particular I don’t think is making the final cut, features Bilal (note: Bilal and Erykah need to work together more often) and Lil Wayne. I dig the funk being channelled on this.

Erykah Badu-Jump Up in the Air and Stay There (feat. Bilal and Lil Wayne)

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.

Its time!

My third job involves throwing on and supporting dope events in NYC. This by far is our biggest event each year and is the one we hold dearest to our hearts: Donuts are Forever-our annual tribute to James Dewitt Yancey aka Jay Dee aka J.Dilla aka Dilla aka my most favorite producer/MC. This is the reason why my blog remains without updates for yet another week and rightly so-there’s a lot of work to be done and this year is going to be EPIC.

We finally were able to get Drummer/DJ/Producer/Bandleader/Music Director extraordinaire Questlove to DJ. If you’ve been following him on twitter (@questlove) you already know he’s literally in the studio prepping for this event. We also have some other suprises up our sleeves so if you can make it out, please do so. GET THERE EARLY.

I love our event because its also a great mix of folks who knew Dilla personally, as well as DJs and MCs who were personally influenced by his body of work, which was prolific during his short  time here on earth. This year I’m honored to be a part of the DJ lineup. I’ll try my best to honor the man who gave me so much enjoyable music.

For those in the NYC area, CMJ Music Fest 2009 begins today (or was it yesterday? whatevs, its here)

There are a ton of live music performances, panels, and more going on in venues across the city. I’m definitely trying to hit up a few but so many of the ones I’d like to hit up overlap!!!!

I’ll be here tomorrow night.  If you see me, say hi

Last week I had the pleasure of attending another Roots Jam Session.

As you should know, The Roots are the house band for Jimmy Fallon’s late night show. They’re definitely turning the idea of a house band on its head and ?uestlove is turning out to be quite a musical director! Can’t wait until they offer him major award show gigs.

Since they’ve been in NYC for extended periods of time, they’ve decided to bless their fans yet again (you have NO idea!) with a series of Jam Sessions at Highline Ballroom. They’ve been occuring weekly (with some breaks) and they have continually sold out. You get to see one of the best bands perform with awesome musical guests such as Living Colour, Angelo Moore (Fishbone), Craig G, Jeru the Damaja , Imani Uzuri, and many others. All of this for only $10. Its definitely not a typical performance: don’t expect to hear your favorite song off “Things Fall Apart”. You might hear a song or two but it is exactly what it claims to be: a jam session. I went to one back in spring and had a great time. I definitely wanted to make another one but hadn’t yet gotten around to it until now.

I won a contest through Brooklyn Bowl, who was hosting a special Jam Session on October 1st. Its a great venue-bowling alley/concert hall/bar/restaurant with food by Blue Ribbon. The bowling alley is definitely not for a couple to have a little bowling date since prime-time rates are $50 an hour for a lane but if you get a decent number of folks together, its definitely more affordable. However, since it was just my brother and I, we settled for $6 dollar local beers at the bar by the stage and a pizza by the L train on the way home instead of the award winning cuisine served up at the venue.

I have to say the highlight of the show for me was at the very beginning, when two gentlemen came out and sat down-one at a drum kit, the other in front of a Korg-and began to play music that I can only describe (perhaps not accurately) as Portishead meets Bjork meets Beirut. These two gentlemen are known as Pattern Is Movement and have now unseated fashion designers Costello Tagliapietra as my new favorite bears.

They have a few songs on their myspace here. One of the songs they performed was “Sound of Your Voice” which was my favorite. They also brought in the entire Jam Session band (?uest included) and did two covers that make me think that they secretly wish they were an R&B act: Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love” and D’Angelo’s “Untitled”. They totally managed to make it their own and even a bit strange with the unusual warblings of singer/keyboardist Andrew Thiboldeaux on “Untitled”. I enjoyed every minute and the Chris Ward is absolutely nasty on the drums.

After that it was a cavalcade of familiar affiliates of The Roots (Ursula Rucker, Talib Kweli) and a hip hop meets reggae meets afrobeat group called Bajah and the Dry-Eye Crew, who hail from Sierra Leone. After all that typing about these jam sessions specifically *not* being concerts, this one was pretty structured with even The Roots themselves doing some familiar songs. They closed out the session with a great rendition of “I Can Understand It”  based off the New Birth’s version of the Bobby Womack song, which in my opinion, is the best.

Here’s footage of Pattern Is Movement doing “Untitled”