Tommy Guerrero...

I like pretty much everything I hear from this pro-skater/guitarist/composer. Trying to fill up the collection right now...here's a few from the 'Tube. I really like all the acoustic jams on the album "Loose Grooves and Bastard Blues" - listened to that front to back. Don't sleep.







Check his site out HERE.

April March...

This California born song-writer sings in English and French, and is famous for her song "Chick Habit" from the album of the same name, released in 1995. The song was featured in Tarantino's Death Proof.



Here are some of my favorite cuts from the album:





Here's the album version of "Chick Habit" also known as "Laisse Tomber Les Filles" which was featured in the Tarantino flick:



As I'm posting, I'm listening to her second album, and now I'm about to grab all four. She's hot! Learn more about April March on Wiki.

Goodbye Lala...

So it's reaching the end of the month, and Lala.com has been bought out by Apple and will no longer be there for me to stream full-length albums on all day long at work! Sucks. So as I'm sitting here doing some late-spring cleaning, I just wanted to share some of the music I've discovered over the past month (scribbled on numerous little office sticky-notes). Most are pretty chill, but that's what I've been feeling at work lately. Anyway, thank you, Lala, and as much as I'll miss you, I'm sure another site will soon take your place.

Let's get right into the music...

First up, a song from French pop duo Holden, not to be confused with the British Techno producer of the same name, whose stuff I did not particularly care for. Their music is kind of sleepy, but the girl's voice is smooth and sexy, and overall it has a very soothing vibe to it...

This song is called Madrid...





They have a 2008 album, Pedrolira, but it's a little boring.

It's official...

I went and bought a new Martin acoustic/electric last weekend. Already feel the inspiration flooding back, I wrote three or four quick ideas that Richard Jones laid some percussion down for last night. So, hopefully we will be able to try a new acoustic set out at the Smith's show next month with Vonnegut. More info to come...if you don't hear from me for a while, I'm working on my calluses:

Make The Road...

...by Walking! This Menahan Street Band album is bananas! I might have posted about them before, they pop up a lot on my Dap Kings and Budos Band playlists...check the whole album out! Smooth instrumental funk at it's finest. Also reminds me of El Michel Affair...good music.

Dengue Fever...

Been listening to Dengue Fever at work today, vibin' on a few tracks. They are a band from L.A. that plays a mix of Cambodian pop and psychadelic rock. Here is a slick cut from their 2008 album, Venus on Earth.



The track is called "Ethanopium" and you can learn more about the group by clicking the picture below:

Word of the day...

impecunious

\'im-pi-'kyü-nē-s\ adj : having very little or no money usually habitually : penniless

Quote of the day...

"The hardest thing to learn in life is which bridge to cross and which to burn."

-- David Russell (classical guitarist)

Blah Blah Blah...

Grip made a video of this with Will Power and team...can't find it on the interweb anywhere. It was just him, walking around 4th ward, through some apartments, bumpin' his head on trees and shit. Here is the song, complete with the gaffled Susana Baca sample. This was one of the first beats I made on the MPC2000, and Grip sounds nice on it.

LANGUAGE ADVISORY (not suitable for minors or those offended by gratuitous use of the F-bomb)

The Soul of Black Peru...

That last post also reminded me of one of my favorite female vocalists...Susana Baca.

My favorite song of hers is called "De Los Amores" and if any of you heard Gripplyaz' first album Cumngitslum, produced by Poncho Grady and myself (which is a real collector's item, there is not a trace left of it online or info about it anywhere), you may recognize this one. (Keep talking "Blah Blah Blah"...)



I first heard her on this Soul of Black Peru compilation a while back. The song was called Maria Lando, about a girl who spends all day working for someone else's gain, and never has any time to appreciate her life. You can feel the emotion pouring out of her...such a gem.

Here is a lo-fi rip of it:



And I had to throw in this flawless live version I found of Maria Lando with some of Peru's finest backing her...brilliant:



http://www.susanabaca.com/

Al cantar a Manuel...

This is a beautiful piece by Spanish singer Mayte Martin, taken from the album, "Al cantar a Manuel," where she does flamenco interpretations of poetry by Manuel Alcantara (for non-Spanish speakers, "cantar" is "to sing" - get it? That's the guy's name!). Takes me back to when I did my own versions of Pablo Neruda poetry set to original music - by versions, I mean two. Such a beautiful language.