Recent Articles:

Hashim B: Fu-Ka-Kai Mix vol.1

August 30, 2010 Japanese No Comments

Japan has always been attracted by cutting edge music and welcomed many bands from around the world getting a fabulous support they could’t expect in their own country. It took a while but thanks to the superstar Ryuichi Sakamoto or DJ Krush, the Japanese music culture reached the other side of the planet too.

However, very rare was the chance to know what happened before the 80’s. Hashim B, one-half of hip-hop duos III Suono and Cappablack, known to mix disparate genres provides here an eclectic mix with Funk, Folk, New Wave, No Wave, Techno-Pop, Disco, and Anime Songs from Japan between the 1960’s and 2010.  It reflects the disparate and sometimes colliding cultures of music that have always existed there.

Hashim B : Fu-Ka-Kai Mix vol.1 free download here.

Tumi and the Volume: Pick a dream

August 26, 2010 Afro beat, other african music, Soul and Hip Hop No Comments

Tumi and the Volume have been playing different European festival this summer and appeared with Shakira at the last football world cup opening concert in South Africa.
They should hit the UK soon with their positive energy.

The South African band gathers Tumi Molekane, one of South Africa’s brightest MC, Tiago, aka The Volume the lead guitarist, Paulo Chibanga the beat master, and Dave Bergman the bass player.
They met in a Jazz club in Johannesburg and played since then all around the world, becoming one of the great South African musical export. They recently found their new home on the Reunion island in the Indian ocean where they signed with Sakifo records, the label created from the eponymous festival and released earlier this year their third studio album  “Pick a dream”, a master piece mixing afro-beat, Hip Hop, Funk and real poetry.
The LP has the same energy as its predecessors but is also covering a larger musical environment, featuring Zubz the Zimbabwean MC on ‘Asinamali’, Fixi from Java with a stunning accordion feature on  ‘Reality Check’,  and hidden in the last minutes of the album  a special creole ballad featuring the  Maloya Music  defender Danyel Waro.

Tumi and his crew have picked up their dream, we can’t wait to share it with them.
http://www.myspace.com/tatv

The Avalanches’ second album

July 18, 2010 Electronic 1 Comment

The Avalanches’ webmaster recently hinted that the Australian band was going to release a second album. After recording Ariel Pink’s guest vocals, the album will be finished.
How serious should we take this news knowing that the second album was already announced in 2005 and 2008. Some said that they are on their way to clear the samples. Well, if there are 3500 vinyl samples to clear like on their first acclaimed LP “Since I left you”, we might have to wait for another year.
Let’s wait and see and just pray that it will happen.
Indeed, The Melbourne electronic outfit released a first album that is widely considered as one of the best album of the 2000s.
The Avalanches are at their ease in mixing acid house, funk, disco, hip hop, ambient, ethnic and psychedelic sounds and are the proof that music always evolves by remixing itself.
They are not only samples maniacs but party animals and groove providers, their live shows have the reputation to make the crowd crazy. They have been highly demanded remixers, they worked with Manic Street Preachers, Belle and Sebastian, Badly Drawn Boy, Franz Ferdinand to name a few.

Now, let’s hope they will give us another reason to party and release their long awaited second album.

The Avalanches myspace website.