must be the music...

I have to blog about this...

First of all-- does anyone know how I might go about posting MP3s on my blog? I would really like to make music avaliable to the faithful homies who read this stuff...

Secondly, my new favorite song(s) :
A few weeks ago, I was driving with Greg and Betsy down to LA for Servant Partners. We were listening to Art Laboe's Jammin Oldies. Now, you need to understand the significance of Art Laboe. This isnt just some oldies show. This is the Sunday night request show....this is a weekly institution, particularly in the 2nd generation and up Latino community in the Southwest. Art Laboe has been a radio disc jockey since the 50s, and specializes in playing the old doo-wop-East LA-jukebox-lowrider-soul cuts that you dont normally hear on the oldies stations. He has taken the torch from Huggie Boy, who was the first, the OG DeeJay who helped to define the smooth, soulful gangster sound that makes you think of cholos, pachucos, ranflas, jainas, and taking your girlfriend 'Lil' Droopy Eyes' down to the diner for a fountain soda.

Anyway, Art Laboe's Golden Oldies are definitive in my musical paradigm. They remind me of New Mexico, and even before I moved to LA, they told of a culture and a lifestyle that originated out here that vatos and homegirls all over New Mexico emulated.

So we're listening, and Art throws on 'I'm Still Here' by a group called the Notations. (I later learn that the Notations were one of the many side projects that were the brainchild of the late great soul master Curtis Mayfield, such as the Impressions....Anything homeboy touched musically is so rediculously good i have to pee on myself)
I contained myself in the car for Greg and Betsy's sake, but if it was any other situation, i would have been screaming and who knows what else, and then after i had gathered myself i would have immediately called my best friend in Albuquerque to tell him about it (my only true kindred soul when it comes to music)

so after weeks of searching the internet, i have found the song, and i can now carry it anywhere in my ipod. I am melting.
If you want examples of the Art Laboe sound, here are some others that defined my experience of living life and digging for records throughout high school:
Pete Wingfield "18 with a bullet"
Bloodstone "Natural High"
Sly Slick & Wicked "Confessing a Feeling"
Tierra "Together"
GQ- "I do love you"
Richie Valens "Sleepwalking"




There are a few other notable songs that have entered my consciousness recently:

another Notations cut called "Super People" A filthy-ass funk drum sample with serious social justice overtones-- something Curtis Mayfield is also known for

"Just a Moment" by Nas and Quan-- a cut that Juan and Arturo put me down on. After hearing it over and over at Palm Springs, i was hooked on it....although i liked it after only hearing it once. Definetly one of the better songs in terms of substance that has come out from the mainstream recently.

"Gettin It" By Too Short. Ahh...mid-90's hip hop. Ahh....Pimp-a-listic saucy-ass, collared-green-ass Bay Area hip hop. I usually avoid most of Too Short's stuff, as it is pretty much all disgusting content-wise. But this is a cut, ( along with "Player's Holiday", ironically) that actually has some redeeming value.

On the Latin tip..."A Vida Em Seus Metodos Diz Calma" by obscure and mysterious 70's Brazilian funkster Di Melo. A tasty bit of Afro-Brazillian soul coming out of an era of groovin/consciousness analogous to what was going on in the US. An explosion of funky music and Black power, but in Northeastern Brazil. You can feel that samba flavor.

last but not least, two albums i have recently picked up-
Rafael Cortijo- Cortijo y su Maquina del Tiempo. A way ahead of its time funk/Nuyorican Jazz/Boricua Soul collection of 7 songs. Will take you to East Harlem in the early 1970s.

Mongo Santamaria- Drums and Chants. An amazing concept album from the master of Afro-Cuban percussion. Many traditional Santeria-influenced tracks here, spiced with just a hint of jazz flavor.