Get to know Bonobo...

Simon Green, aka Bonobo is an incredible British producer and musician who also DJs under the name Barakas.

His song Noctuary, off of Dial "M" For Monkey, is one of the smoothest pieces I've heard in a minute.



When he tours with the Bonobo project he brings a live band with him, and plays bass and leads the stage from center.



My man Eli Sweet laid down a dope vocal version. He does an incredible job capturing the mood and is, by far, one of the most talented lyricists out there right now. Listen to the song here on his imeem music page and while you are at it, check out all of his tracks...great all around guy and MC.

And learn more about Bonobo at the official site:

www.bonobomusic.com

Peace, fam.

Morning funk...

I needed some songs to pull me out of the funk before I slide to work this morning...I turned to Blu.



Check out a young Blu...



And if you don't know Blu, get Below The Heavens...if you can find it.

Spanish Hip-Hop 101...

So I have been getting back into the Spanish hip-hop lately, and have decided to document my favorites for quick future reference. The guy I have been checking all afternoon I first heard back the early 2000s, as guest MC on some of my favorite albums of that era. His name is Tremendo, or Tremendo Menda, and he reminds me of the Guru of Spain. He is from Terrassa (about 30 km from Barcelona)...



...runs with the dope hip-hop collective Funkomuna, and cites Dilla as his major influence. So far he has released one full-length record called Vidalogia with the label DelPalo. This great label is also the home of Spanish hip-hop group Sólo Los Solo, so naturally DJ Griffi (the producer / DJ extraordinaire of that group) does a lot of the production. If you speak Spanish, you can learn more about him on Wikipedia or you can check his Myspace page for more current updates and tracks. For now, I will let some of his tracks speak for themselves…

Lazy Sunday grooves...

Incredible show last night! After the Charlotte fiasco, we all really needed this...Murf was back, the band was in top form, the energy was perfect (speaking of, the new song came out pretty good considering we only practiced it once), and the sound was excellent! In addition to our faithful CE family of fans, I had a bunch of old friends in the crowd, which made it all the more special for me...JT and Arelis were in town from Nicaragua (flying back today as we speak), so it was good to see them, albeit briefly. Austin was also back from Nicaville...hopefully he'll be here for a minute and we'll get a chance to link up. Thorn and Kamilah came out, Sam Dyches and his wife came through, some old LOA days folks...it was so great to see everybody, and have them able to be there for such a fun show! Unfortunately, mom and Louis were exhausted and couldn't make it, but Pops came through, and all the usual suspects were there, like Drew, Brian, and Rock (who had some very nice blessings for the dome), and it always helps to have all the lovely ladies in the front singing along, knowing all the words (Root, Ashley, Bree, etc)...

Bam's mom came out so he stepped up and let the entertainer inside him shine...he didn't have any brain-fart moments during his verses (the ones where he looks like he's getting stung by invisible bees). He was funny, before the show he was backstage making a big deal about not wanting to do his "warm-it-up" dance routine on Strugglin' unless we all plan something together (yeah right), but then he was all over the stage hoppin' and two-steppin' where ever he could...it was dope!

Mudfish was on top of things on the decks, playing some really good music as usual. This song by Cru took us back to 1997...what a dope beat, sounds great in the club...



But on the real, Noot D'Noot really blew me away! Their sound was huge, and they were all over the place stylistically. Very good musicians, the songs on their myspace are good, but do not really do them the justice they deserve. The live show is obviously where they shine! They had two girls running vocals that were so talented and cute, it really brought the whole thing together. It was a perfect match, big ups to Smith's Old Bar for the connection. They have an interesting blog, you can check it here nootdnoot.blogspot.com



Now, I'm just taking it easy on a lazy Sunday...checking out some music on Pandora. Here are some lazy afternoon treats...

A Night Out With Pops...

So I had gotten tickets to see David Sedaris with Ruthie last night, and around noon yesterday I get a call...Ruthie has a horrible sore throat, stomach ache, etc. and is being sent home from work! She says she will try to rest for a while and then see if she feels well enough to go, but tells me to go ahead and get a back-up plan ready. I can’t think of any good friends who even know who David Sedaris is, much less one I would want to roll solo with to Cobb Energy Center to see him...not that going alone with another dude would be weird...but maybe -- what a minute, Pops!! So I head over to pick him up after work - he has just finished getting his and Judy’s taxes ready to mail out (the last possible day, last possible minute, of course) and it ends up working out perfectly. We ride out in the mini-van, and after conquering a couple confusing direction details, we park about a mile down the road (we get tricked by a parking attendant who forgets to tell us there is on-site parking for the same price). We get inside, Dad buys me a couple Sweetwaters, and I scarf down some chicken fingers while he makes small talk with one of the ushers. Finally, they let us in and we climb up to the nose-bleeds, I mean literally the last possible row, and settle in to our seats.



Aside from the fact that we can barely see him, it ends up being a great show. He read a couple of new stories he has been working on while on the road, and then read a few journal entries. He was very funny, and kept us laughing pretty much the whole time. He told a great story called the Kookaburra or something, about some experiences in Australia...it was my favorite. Actually, now that I think about it, the shorter diary entries were the ones that really had me rolling. Anyway, great night, glad I got the chance to go see it with Pops, since he didn’t quite know who David Sedaris was either. It was definitely right up his alley, in terms of sense of humor...My only regret is that Root didn’t get to see him, since she was the real fan, and has read all of his stuff (I just knew of him from an audio-book Matt Weiss burned us for one of our 6 hour Kentucky drives). Now, I am definitely a fan.

Oh, well, I hope she feels better by Saturday...I can't wait, the Smith's show is going to be dope! We need the redemption after that show in Charlotte...ouch!

Right now, I can't stop listening to this track they posted on soul-sides.com yesterday. One of my favorite blogs, always some great funk, soul and world music, old and new, to sink my teeth into...

soul-sides.com

Great music!

From obsession to collection...

So I got some weird spy-ware on my desktop and I'm currently in the process of cleaning it out using Spy-bot Search and Destroy. Of all places, I got it trying to download a torrent of the new Rick Ross album?!? What is wrong with me? I realized a month or two ago when one of my Terabyte drives crashed (full of movies luckily) that I am spending way more time actually accumulating this crap than I am enjoying, appreciating or watching anything. Since then I have slowed down tremendously, almost to a complete halt. It had kind of become a hopeless obsession -- it’s always been a fantasy to have this immense collection of music, and when it became so easy to grab excellent copies of the latest flicks, the obsession spread to that realm as well.

I remember when I was younger heading up to Wax N’ Facts (Little 5 Points) to spend my last 20 dollar bill on some records to take down to my man T-Bird’s house. He had gotten him a little Gemini start-up kit (a dual turntable set and mixer) so we went from listening to cassette tapes to going through our parents old records, puffin’ L’s and trying to do mash-ups of the latest 12” rap singles -- and whenever we got some extra cash we would go hunting and grab a couple more records for the collection. I specifically remember browsing through the categories of soul music, jazz, rap, etc., wishing I could take everything with me, and just own it all. Now I realize how absolutely useless that would be, because there would be no time to give that music the listening that it deserves, I mean really let the good stuff marinate in your soul for a little while, like we do with great records. There really is not that much time in this world…but there are some great albums, movies, books, etc that when taken the time to appreciate are truly fulfilling, and in some ways help make us who we are…and we’ll be able to pull it out and get the same effect for years and years, like, wow, that is a classic! I think from here on out, those are the only ones I’m trying to collect…sorry Rick Ross.

Here are a few of the tracks from that timeless classic collection...

Remembering the jams...

Been reminiscing about the LOA days recently. One thing that I miss about those days is the sense of camaraderie and connection that I got from a good jam session. LOA would begin each practice by recording about 15 to 20 minutes of completely spontaneous material, just bouncing off of each other, and feeling out different melodies, rhythms and grooves. Many of our best songs were written by listening back to these recordings, and expanding on the ideas captured. CE is rehearsing with the band tomorrow night for the shows coming up, and I would love to incorporate more improvisational jams into our practice sessions. I think it would really help the live band to get to know each other a little more on the improv tip. Everyone is so incredibly talented, and they play so well together, that just 10-20 minutes of floating off into a freestyle jam before jumping into the planned material can help us find more areas of the set that could be complimented by an improv groove...or more spots for someone to break into a solo because they are feeling it, not just because it is a spot we designate to fill space. Music is how we communicate, and to be able to pull out our instruments and actually express what's on our minds at the moment is crucial. To bring this feeling to a live show is very rewarding. Anyway, maybe I will post a couple clips of some old LOA practices...that is if I can muster the energy to get them out of the closet, dust them off, and digitize some.


I stumbled upon this slideshow/song someone posted on the tube, peace to the LOA fam:

One More Thing...

Right before I crash for the night, I just wanted to wish a Happy Birthday to Diamond D, who turns 39 today. He just stopped by for a minute, we talked about recording his new instrumental project over here at the CE mansion. He played a show last night in Milwaukee, so he didn't stay long. Peace to the one and only, the best kept secret...





A side-note: Cre did the cuts on that last video, and my man Anthony Accurate (Brainstorm Sounds) produced the track. He's a really good dude, and a brilliant producer. He went through it recently, got robbed for all his gear, had to move, ran into some health issues. I just want to wish him well, and hope he's doin' alright...it's been a minute, I need to call him.

First Post...

So I'm getting this blog started as a way for me to keep track of what keeps me motivated: music, family, friends, art, food, poetry, life. I am intending to post at least once a week or so, but it will probably be more like once a month, so while I am here doing this, let's get started, shall we?

I have been listening to a lot of instrumentals lately (mostly Collective Efforts beats that still need hooks to be written), but also some soothing sounds of Gotan Project, Bobobo, and this group the Jazz Liberatorz that I stumbled across on Pandora. They are a group of French producers that have worked with a bunch of dope artists like Aloe Blacc, Stacy Epps, Asheru, Fat Lip, etc. Check out some tracks on their Myspace page. Here is a little tasty instrumental I found on the "tube":



I also seem to be getting pickier in terms of who I can actually sit and listen to as an MC, often finding that rappers these days are sounding like they are trying way too hard to come across as these "mad lyrical" giants, their words just zipping straight over most of our heads. I mean, we can sit and dissect the rhymes if we take the time, and maybe if I had a walk man, some headphones, and was in 9th grade, that might be something I would consider doing, but as I get older the non sequitur stream of consciousness raps start to bore me. Maybe it's just me getting old. I would rather hear someone speak to me on a human level, rather than lifted up on a pedestal in the usual high and mighty hip-hop god position (which most of us as rappers are guilty of at some time or another). That's why this particular track by B.O.B (an ATL producer, guitarist, rapper, songwriter that T.I. signed to Grand Hustle) really spoke to me when I saw the video. He came across with that simplicity I was looking for, and although the song could have been developed more as a whole, it is a great introduction to an artist I am looking to hear a lot more from.



Until next time, stay searching for that new and true.

- Ben Hameen