What's The Word?

Talkin' Square Biz to Ya

2011-08-23T10:45:00.003-04:00

Square, square, biz.

The New Biz.

2011-08-20T13:13:00.003-04:00

Soul, Jazz, & Samba.

New jawns.....

2011-07-24T18:57:00.003-04:00

I still have to listen fully to them all, outside the Hal Galper & the Discos Fuentes comp (Colombia's oldest record label).

The Impressions are my favorite vocal group, so for 1 dollar, their Greatest Hits was a no-brainer. Hal Galper works with a trio on his "Inner Journey" LP. Great work, I must say. This one is out of print and a lil harder to find, from what I gather.

2011-06-12T15:44:00.005-04:00

Found these gems at a local monthly record show this morning. Good prices on all of them too. I had been looking for the MFSB LP, albeit passively, glad I found it today. Has great covers of Family Affair, Freddie's Dead, and a remake of Backstabbers, which is already an MFSB backed song, performed by the timeless O'Jays.(www.recordcollectors.org)

Bought a lil stack of 45's too. Half decent, half not. I really need a portable turntable. I'd love one of those old school Fisher Price jawns.

Joe Bataan, Afro-American & Filipino heritage, grew up in Spanish Harlem, and could churn out Latin rhythms just like he was off the islands. Afro-Filipino is a good album. The A side, labeled the East Coast side, is decent, while the B sidehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif, the West Coast side, is stellar. "Ordinary Guy" starts out as a relaxing, mellow, Sunday afternoon piece, then breaks down into a salsa jam. "What Good is A Castle" is a re-recording of the tune which appeared on an earlier album of his (not sure which one, I'm not googling, just keeping it real, haha) and Joe really rocks this joint. You can feel the emotion in this track, it really gets inside you.

Sun Ra's Astro Black is hella dope. That's all I can say about this one. My description of this particular Ra album would be "out-there" but grounded with great percussion work. Not the best description, but hey, check it out for yourself!

The Voices of East Harlem joint is cool, but will be for sale.

Ahhhhhh, records.

A couple recent favorites...

2011-06-09T18:58:00.002-04:00

Had been seeing the Frank Foster joint all over message boards as of late and a recent trip to Philly saw me find it in a dope record spot. Great album. The B side is where it's at though.

The Alan Lorber record is dope! It actually took me a while to figure out what was on the cover of this one. Trippy. Indian influence spacey, lounge music. Ahh the 60's had some gems for real. The whole record is solid from front to back. I like Alan's take on the classic, "Up, Up, and Away".

And Gil Melle's "Tome VI" is a nice album with free-jazz-ish tunes and it is all electric instruments. The back says it is "the first electronic jazz album". Either way, it's a good listen for jazz heads.

Kendrick Lamar x Gucci

2011-06-02T03:40:00.000-04:00

"It's Been A Long Time...

2011-05-15T13:48:00.006-04:00

...I shouldn'ta left you, without a dope beat to step to"

B-Side to the Fela piece is "Trouble Sleep Yanga Wake Am". I had heard this Fela piece before, but never remembered the title, it was faintly in my head, so I didn't have the best memory of it. A few years later, it pops up. Feels good.

End March Digs...I go hard in the crates.

2011-03-27T15:01:00.003-04:00

Not everything I picked up is highlighted here, but these are some of my favorites.

John Coltrane - Kulu Se Mama
Sun Ra and his Arkestra - Live At Montreux
Nat Adderley - Callin' Out Loud
Johnny Hammond - Gears
Ann Peebles - I Can't Stand The Rain
Andy Bey - Experience and Judgement

Not pictured is Bill Cosby's "Badfoot Brown and the Bunions Bradford Funeral and Marching Band" LP. This was on top of my want list for a long time. Not the rarest of rare that collectors sweat, but I'm not in it for that. "Badfoot Brown.." is one heck of an album. Worth it for the liner notes that the Cos wrote, alone.

High Quality Disco Boogie, baby

2011-03-08T16:11:00.003-05:00

Some recent grabs of the Disco kind.

When I saw the Loose Joints 12" for "Is It All Over My Face?" and that it was Mixed by Larry Levan, I HAD to pick it up. I recently watched a documentary on the Paradise Garage (a groundbreaking warehouse party where Larry DJ'ed in the 80's) and what little I had known about Larry was brought a bit more up to speed. And this joint indeed is a heater. A great mix of drums, congas, bass, and spare vocals. A real disco heater.

The Convertion is the B side pictured. I originally thought that better than the A ("Let's Do It"), but I've now switched sides (pun intended).

Mo rekkids in March

2011-03-04T18:42:00.005-05:00

Today @ 1200pm:

Came up on some joints, you know, I'm a digger. Sources? Chilllll.....

50 Cents a piece.

The 2 singles are Keni Burke "Rising To The Top" and First Choice - "Let No Man Put Asunder" (mixes by Frankie Knuckles and Shep Pettibone).

Yesterday's come ups will be posted tomorrow. Heat.

Dem Hunger-Mosque Vibrations

2011-02-24T12:45:00.000-05:00

Just found out about this cat (or is it a group?) through some message board surfing. This is my bag right here, need to find out more.

Que Beleza

2011-02-21T12:41:00.000-05:00

Tim Maia.

Brazil y Puetro Rico

2011-02-19T08:42:00.005-05:00

The Evening Line-Up

2011-02-16T17:54:00.003-05:00

Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Eddie Harris

Selector!

2011-02-11T11:55:00.000-05:00

My nephew.

Brazilian Heat by way of Cairo

2011-02-01T14:21:00.000-05:00

Bob Azzam -- Batucada Por Favor

Wanluv broadcasting from Accra

2011-01-30T12:26:00.000-05:00

Some more catches

2011-01-24T12:12:00.003-05:00

Went fishing once again.

Mr. Roy Ayers debut album is a great piece of late 60's jazz. Really good jazz, not soul jazz, not fusion, but JAZZ. Recommended for folks who want to get a glimpse of Roy before his soul/funk workouts. It's produced by Herbie Mann too.

Bob & The Wailers "Survival" is the Jamaican press. Mine bears no catalog number, but although it's not the first run, it is from the OG release year, which was 1979. The OG I think is colored vinyl, but I'm sure that was a short run. Then the other release has a different label from what I see on discogs. But nothing beats having the Jamaican press, in all its thick petroleum glory. Probably my favorite Marley album, although I'm not the biggest fan of his from a production standpoint. Just a little too "clean" sounding but he does have a bunch of material I do enjoy.

The Dollar Brand LP is cool. Only 2 tracks. After one listen, I like the B side, "The Pilgrim" a lot more. But I'll have to give it another, more thorough listen. "The Pilgrim" is a nice flowing piece, I like the mood it sets.

The J.B.'s "Damn Right I'm Somebody" is a great album. I had been looking for "Blow Your Head" for a minute! The synth intro is dooope. I think the music from a pre-75 JB's album speaks for itself, not anything my review will do for it!

And last, but certainly not least, Rev, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's Why I Oppose The War in Vietnam speech. He touches on so many important topics in this one. I think it is his best speech. Everyone could benefit from a listen, a thorough listen, and then one more. His words ring too true, even today. His birthday is on Jan. 15th, same as mine. Just had to throw that in there. Haha.

PS: I don't know why the image is vertical like that.

Mo' records

2011-01-20T15:49:00.002-05:00

Just picked these up on a day-trip out of town...

I've only listened to Zappa's "Hot Rats" and Astrud's "Now", so far. Astrud Gilberto's "Now" is the gem of the digs. Beautiful album loaded with great Afro-Brazilian percussion, some great rhythm guitar work on a few tracks, and Astrud's comforting voice. I'm always hunting for Brazilian records and the Astrud along with the "Brazilian Guitar Fuzz Bananas" comp (can't wait to listen to it) ended a little drought finding ones I was interested in.

The "Brazilian Guitar Fuzz Bananas" piece is a compilation of super rare Brazilian psyche/funk nuggets, compiled primarily from 45's I believe. Dude who put it together, Joel (pronounced "jo-EL") Olveira, runs a shop called Tropicalia in Furs out of the East Village section of NYC. I'm actually planning on making a trip up to NYC in a month or so, you already know one place I'm heading!

I also picked up two 45's: Bobby Byrd's "I Know You Got Soul" and Afrique's "Soul Makossa". It's my 3rd copy of the monster Manu Dibango cover by Afrique. Messed up my copy of the OG LP (I don't sweat it though, life goes on) and my other 45rpm copy is scratched.

PS...As of the end of this post, I finised listening to Herbie's "Fat Albert Rotunda" and I'm currently running back the Astrud....Worked on two beats today, one for my homie and another for my EP. A heavy afro-funk burner and a Spoonie G assisted instro. Holla.

Too much is a problem, but up close...

2011-01-20T11:08:00.003-05:00

(via: NPR)

Nina, Nina, Nina...

2011-01-16T17:04:00.000-05:00

Presents for myself

2011-01-15T14:44:00.003-05:00

I went on a walk and I came back home with a few records. Here are 4 of them:

A morning playlist

2011-01-15T11:32:00.003-05:00

It's my birthday and I'm just relaxing.

Shyne - Bad Boys
Collie Buddz - Come Around
Fela Kuti - International Thief Thief
Killer Mike - Swimming (prod. Flying Lotus)
Mongo Santamaria - O Mi Shango
Curtis Mayfield - We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue

Feeling good.

Slackin on ya pimpin' patna?.......

2011-01-07T10:21:00.004-05:00

...well,

Every last Wednesday of the month, myself and my homeboy Kani spin at the Chameleon Club's "Lizard Lounge" in Lancaster, PA.

If you're every around and it happens to be a last Wednesday, come on through and show some love.

Latin Heat!

2011-01-06T17:15:00.003-05:00

Took a trip to a 2nd hand shop on Wednesday and to my surprise, boxes of Latin records were freshly dropped off. Peruvian, Colombian, Puerto Rican, Mexican, and more. I went through it all and made my selections, about 30 records in all. Not all in the best condition but I'm a hip hop head, we make things work! A handful of Fania and Tico releases were a pleasure to find. What is crazy, is that I had a day dream that I was digging at another 2nd hand spot and came up on a bunch of Latin joints, and the next day, to my surprise.....

Mix coming soon...

Here's two of the records (their actually not good, but I like the covers! haha):

In the Lab

2011-01-02T13:16:00.004-05:00

Well in my living room, but you get the idea. Sporting the microKorg courtesy of my man DJ Image (on tour nationwide with Slacker Radio right now).

Working on a track for an EP I plan on releasing in this new year. Made great progress this past December, conceptually, helping me get a better vision of where I want to take it. My influences and ideas feel like they are starting to settle and gel together very naturally, marking a very creative period for myself. I believe this is my best production work to date. I take a lot of time even on the smallest pieces of my music, so this should be finished this upcoming spring, and be readied for the summer. But that's ideally, I don't impose time-limits on myself, because I don't follow them! Haha.

How would I describe this music I'm working on? Well check out the post throughout this blog and you'll find many things I have drawn inspiration from. I've been on a afrobeat/highlife kick for sometime now, with salsa and other afro-latin sounds follwoing ride beside. So those undercurrents are very present in the music. Peppered with touches of what I think of in my head as spiritual soul jazz (a hodgepodge of influences that seem to dance around in my head in unison), the album when completed will attempt to present my thoughts and feelings in a musical format.

Freedom Flight.

2011-01-01T10:45:00.001-05:00

NYE Finds

2011-01-01T09:04:00.003-05:00

First off, Happy New Years. That said, I had a great day to send off 2010 and enter this new decade. Not partying, but doing some digging earlier in the day. I had been wanting the Kraftwerk "Computer World" album for the longest. Not a hard record to find, but one that had eluded me until yesterday. First pressing too, so that satisfies the smaller collector part of my wax habit! The Coltrane is amazing, free, spiritual, fulfilling; those are my adjectives to describe it. Herbie's "Sextant" is incredible as well. I accidentally listened to the whole A side on 45 and didn't realize it! Now I have to go back and re-listen, correctly, haha. And last but not least, Kurtis Blow's classic street jam, "The Breaks". That's hip hop. Pulled some nice 45's too. I stepped out of my usually funk/afro/soul/jazz zone and picked up a French rock 45 (Joel Dayde) which is pretty dope. Nice fuzzed out lead guitar over a great groove. I can dig it. The best of the bunch is the Gary Burton Quartet 7" that has killer A & B sides. Some "out there" but funky joints with great use of the Vibes.

and the lil homies:

Curtis Mayfield - The Makings of You b/w (Don't Worry) If There's A Hell Below We're All Gonna Go (Curtom)

The Whatnauts - Message From A Black Man b/w Dance To The Music (A&I Records)

Ella Andall and Shorty Vibration International - Hello Africa Pt. 1& 2 (Charlie's Records)

Yambu - Sunny b/w Caballo (Montuno)

Joel Dayde - Mammy Blue b/w You've Got Freedom (Riviera) <---Spanish Pressing

The Gary Burton Quartet - Fleurette Africaine b/w General Mojo Cuts Up (RCA/Victor)

Shots.

2010-12-27T10:31:00.004-05:00

YNQ covers the Mizell Bros.

2010-12-23T11:43:00.000-05:00

Yesterdays New Quintet - Uno Esta

Rummaging through the crates...

2010-12-15T11:36:00.005-05:00

Listening, enjoying, and getting ideas.

Revitalization

2010-12-10T12:24:00.002-05:00

Hip Hop is revitalization
back is to forward
as forward is to back
so we dig through the past
and come upon roots
which always reign us in
and grow again
so take a sample of that.

Props to my man JustNice for the vid

2010-12-09T10:10:00.000-05:00

Just me breaking down a lil bit of a track I'm working on for my EP.

The Oriental Brothers in performance

2010-12-09T08:47:00.000-05:00

On my way out of town to pick up an Oriental Brothers LP (amongst other things), stumbled upon this. Cool to see the styles of the 70's in Nigeria.

Cameroon in the House..

2010-12-08T18:35:00.000-05:00

Without a doubt.

Nobody Beats the Biz

2010-12-02T09:31:00.000-05:00

Pre-Ikea shelf days lol.

The Zhane/MJ blend was dope.

TV programming is not the same anymore.

Real Rap.

2010-12-01T16:06:00.000-05:00

Both make great points, although I feel as if LL point has now been pushed past the point of absurdity by many a emcee.

Can't get any realer than Suliman statement at the end of the video.

Cry of Jazz

2010-11-26T01:06:00.000-05:00

Featuring Sun Ra & his Arkestra

Check all 6 parts.

Cry of Jazz

Blowin' in The Wind

2010-11-26T00:24:00.000-05:00

Disco Rap Attack

2010-11-22T11:06:00.003-05:00

Just a dope instrumental. B-Side Style. Found this joint 2 years ago in Brooklyn at a Salvation Army for a buck. Red vinyl from '81. It's a cover of the Unlimited Touch joint by the same name. Check the discogs entry here.

(and yeah, that's how they spelled "rhythm" on the 12", don't know if it was done purposely or not)

Shout out to my man DJ Image for helping me rip this joint. You can check his posts over at the Dollar Bin Jams blog.

Rythem Rebellion - Searching To Find The One (Instrumental)

Philly's Real McCoy

2010-11-21T12:36:00.003-05:00

I picked up McCoy Tyner's "Song For My Lady" yesterday. Great album. The LP starts out with "Native Song", which has a great groove, Mtume on percussion adds a lot of flavor (as does his addition on the last track "Essense"). The title track sounds like what would've happened if Coltrane's classic quartet stayed together and started playing like Coltrane's second quartet ('65-67). "A Silent Tear" is a beautifully, soulful piano solo.

All in all, I'd say it was a great way to start off my Sunday morning.

McCoy Tyner - Song for My Lady (youtube link)

Discogs entry

A nod to good hip-hop

2010-11-18T15:36:00.002-05:00

http://thekiddaytona.l-r-g.com/

Shout out to my man Nick for putting me up on this via okayplayer.

A Slice of Fela pre-politico

2010-11-17T18:16:00.001-05:00

w/the Africa 70 "Fogo Fogo"

Off of a great compilation by the way. Check it out here.

Island Rain

2010-11-16T11:43:00.000-05:00

I need a copy of this limited edition 7"

Sugar on the smooth tip

2010-11-16T10:12:00.000-05:00

R&B styled vocals over reggae riddim. Lover's Rock.

RIP Sugar

11/14/10 digs

2010-11-14T03:04:00.002-05:00

The Last Poets - Chastisment (Blue Thumb)

Fela Kuti & The Africa 70 w/Ginger Baker - Live! (Regal Zonophone/EMI)

Pharoah Sanders - Thembi (Impulse)

John Coltrane/Archie Shepp - New Thing At Newport (Impulse)

All og's (im not sure how the discogs link match up though).

Quite a satisfying dig, down Charm City. As is any day which includes a Fela pick-up.

Peace.

Break!

2010-11-12T09:19:00.001-05:00

FELA KUTI live! - Don't Gag Me - Je nwi Temi 1971

2010-11-12T00:34:00.001-05:00

AR AY DUBA YU

McCoy Tyner - Malika

2010-11-11T22:43:00.000-05:00

Off of the incredible, "Asante" LP on Blue Note.

Spin this at 33 1/3 rotations per minute to experience freedom flight.

Chuuch.

A Few of My Favorite Things

2010-11-04T23:39:00.001-04:00

This "Live at the Village Vanguard Again" album has been in constant rotation. Listened to it about 3 times today. Truely music for the soul.

Badu's last joint was the truth. Can't wait for the 3rd installment in this trilogy of releases.

And last but not least...

As a Milwaukee Bucks fan, I look forward to this season...

Sunday Morning listenings...

2010-10-31T13:31:00.000-04:00

Although Shuggie Otis's Inspiration Information LP is a widely described classic piece of california psych-soul, I think it could've benefitted with an arranger other than Shug. The album does have some pieces that are more than fine as is, "Aut Uh Mi Hed" and the title cut been waaaaavvvyy since before Max B got a perm, "Not Available" might be my favorite track, and "Island Letter" is a good one too. I love how he uses the drum machine throughtout the album, beautifully-quirky.

...My mpc was active this morning as well...

Shu

thoughts as afternoon approaches

2010-10-30T11:39:00.000-04:00

Just finished reading "Lumumba" by Robin McKown, it's a great biography of the late Patrice Lumumba. Published in 1969, so it has a "current" outlook (he died in '61), which is a interesting perspective to read from. It is a very good book in my opinion. An honorable man he was, to say the least. He should be in every history textbook. The lengths that were went by the US, Belgium, and the UN, to curtail his country's independence, which he was at the forfront of, were mind-bogglingly atrocious. Kinda gets me worked up thinking about it. And he stood courageously for his people and principles until his last breath at the hands of his captors (spelling?).

...

Listening to Ramsey Lewis's "Maiden Voyage" LP. Picked it up from Mr. Suit, a fine record store in my hometown of Lancaster, PA. Great album.

...

Got my mpc on...need some spices to sprinkle on this joint I'm taking to the studio tomorrow. Afro-flavor, as the whole LP will be.

...

And last but not least, a better world starts with ourselves. We need to be the best we can for ourselves, in order to do the best we can for others. Simple, but easy to overlook.

Chow.

A Beautiful Day

2010-10-21T13:45:00.000-04:00

Recent Rotation:

Fela Kuti - Confusion LP
Ramsey Lewis Trio - Uhuru
S.S.O - Tonight's The Night
Madlib - High Jazz LP (#7 in his 'Medicine Show' series)
Curtis Mayfield - Sweet Exorcist LP

Just checked out two books on John Coltrane from the bibliotecha today. "Chasin' The Trane" by J.C Thomas and "Coltrane: the story of a sound" by Ben Ratliff....

A afro-swing permeates the rhythms of my mind even more so then they it already does by default...

Other Sunday Jazz directions

2010-09-19T11:12:00.000-04:00

John Coltrane - Love at The Village Vanguard Again! lp

Yusef Lateef - The Gentle Giant lp (Nubian Lady, Jugle Plum)

Cannonball Adderly Quintet - Accent On Africa lp (a great dollar bin find)

Maybe some bossanova...who knows...it might be Sunday Morning Soul directions next...

Sunday Morning Jazz Post

2010-09-19T09:55:00.000-04:00

Sunday morning makes you feel so lovely (as Outkast once stated on the 'any given sunday' ost).

In a Jazz mood today. First record I threw on was Yusef Lateef's "Hush n Thunder". Great record, Lateef is in his classic moody-funk bag here (yeah I just coined that).

I was actually put on to Mr. Lateef through some records I inheirated from my Grandmother (rest her soul). They must've been sitting in the bottom of this drawer for some time (I never saw her play one and she didn't have a record player any longer). One which I crawled and walked by for years. "The Complete Yusef Lateef". Also from her I got Eddie Harris's "Silver Cycles", which put me up on Eddie as well. Grandma on the cutting edge of jazz.

Sunday morning.

It's pancake time.

Love you Grandma.

free flow.

2010-08-27T11:55:00.000-04:00

First thought: weather report's "nubian sundance" is funky as hell.

"The funk that you smell, that's the melanin" - me on the intro to my lp with my homie Nana Kwame.

Johnny osbourne - one more rub-a-dub 12"

Lil will - lookin for nikki "12 (a classic, ONP got damn, got 5 copies)

Vida, Vida, Live

2010-08-24T07:15:00.000-04:00

Man...

doing a lot...

busy bee...

Music been good to me...

Black uhuru - black sounds of freedom lp

Gal Costa - Gal canta caymmi lp (brazilian press)

Barry White - Together Brothers ost.

Blacky Ivory - Baby, won't you change your mind lp

Fuzzy Haskins - A whole nother thang lp

(Listening to herbie an 'nems first mwandishi lp, my copy has a pop on first couple seconds of "wandering spirit song", maybe I should clean it...)

The j.b.'s - the grunt (pts. 1 and 2) 7"

The hypnotic brass ensemble - spottie

Waajeed and monica blaire - jamaica funk

U-roy - chalice in the palace

Some of what I've been listening to a lot as of 8/24/10.

Several 45's to be heard are in a neat pile on the coffee table...

Ahmed abdul malik 7" following up "mwandishi"

Finding textures to layer the lp...

Fin.

Posting from my blackberry

2010-07-09T13:19:00.000-04:00

Pretty cool.

Been doing a lot of digging, been keeping busy with a lil production work, headed to brooklyn hip hop festival tomorrow. And my mpc 1000 pads are due to be replaced soon. I need that pressure sensitivity working right. just rambling.

Another new joint....

2010-04-27T23:23:00.002-04:00

<a href="http://brucegeetz1.bandcamp.com/track/marvins-love-dub-2">Marvin's Love Dub by Bruce Geetz</a>

Straight outta the mpc, unmastered. This will be on my upcoming EP.

Into Soul? Check this out

2010-04-23T15:02:00.002-04:00

Kenny Raw from Philadelphia just released his new album "Left Handed Scissors". It's full of some ridiculous Soul/Funk edits.

Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

And it's free. Can't beat that.

And if your ever in Philly, keep an eye out, you might be lucky enough to catch him spinning one of his killer funk sets at 45 rotations per minute.

Some new music from yours truly, in the form of a remix

2010-04-18T13:24:00.002-04:00

<a href="http://brucegeetz1.bandcamp.com/track/love-song-2nd-time-round-remix">Love Song (2nd Time Round Remix) by Bruce Geetz</a>

Some Azymuth for ya

2010-04-13T10:34:00.003-04:00

Working on a remix at the moment and was looking for running through my crates looking for a few small samples to finish it up. Looking through my jazz section, I stumbled across Azymuth's 1982 release, "Cascades". I had picked this up months ago, but might've only gave it one quick spin. My Madlib heads might recognize this joint off the incredible "Brasilintime" DVD that Mochilla put out a few years back.

Azymuth - Through The Window (Entrando pela janela)

That ole' realness

2010-04-04T23:01:00.000-04:00

Boundless Radio Presents: Large Professor from Kellen Dengler on Vimeo.

(Via Cratekings.com)

Early April Digs

2010-04-02T11:15:00.004-04:00

Went out on the 1st to grab some joints to listen to/chop up/stash away in the collection. Good way to start off the month.

Funkadelic - Funkadelic
Funkadelic - Let's Take it To The Stage
OutKast - Aquemini
Miles Davis - Water Babies
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Muddy Waters - Electric Mud

I needed the 2 Funkadelic joints, now I believe I have all the 70's Funkadelic branded George Clinton productions, need 2 more for Parliament, I think. I dig the early Funkadelic a lot. The tripped out bluesy, psych-rock, funky sound differs highly from the later releases and just go to show you the extent of George's genuis. The "Electric Mud" album by Muddy Waters also plays with that psychadelic sound as he had Rotary Connection as the backing band for that album. Check the back story for the making of that album, very interesting.

Then we got Miles. "Kind of Blue" and "Water Babies" To different periods in his career. I'm not super-well versed on his phases, but I dig the electric stuff the most. Which reminds me, I need his "On The Corner" album on wax. My favorite Miles album for sure (from what I've heard thus far).

Last but not least, OutKast took it even further out of this world when "Aquemini" dropped. Phew. Talk about stank. In my head this album is like late 90's evolution of that mid-70's P-Funk stuff, updated to the styles of the day - 1998 that is.

And on another note, I finishing up the music for my EP. Good stuff.

Some early March finds

2010-03-09T10:20:00.004-05:00

I'm not sure why it's sideways, but hey, you can still see what they are.

Cannonball Adderley - Soul of The Bible
Donald Byrd - Electric Byrd
Various - Wildflowers 5
Rashaan Roland Kirk - Blacknuss
Manu Dibango - Afrovision
and some Swedish (children's record I think) joint I don't know the translation for.

Good look Baltimore.

Sweet, Sweet Soul.

2010-03-08T23:17:00.003-05:00

Need I say more about one of the greatest vocal groups to ever touch the face of popular music. That's just my opinion though.

Peace.

(And yeah, I still do have more rips to post, along with original music. Soon come.)

Weekly Rip (12/22/09)

2009-12-22T13:10:00.003-05:00

This week's song is by Brazilian jazz-fusion singer Flora Purim, is the title track from her album "Stories To Tell (Milestone, M-9058)" released in 1974.

The players on this album read like an all-star line-up: George Duke, Earl Klugh, Airto, King Errisson, Carlos Santana, and Ron Carter are a few of the names.

Very solid record from front to back.

The title track is funky to say the least. It starts out with a solo bass groove, then the drums kick in and really carry the track. Flora's vocals float over the track, nicely complementing the groove. Definitely a more funk oriented fusion track, but not in a corny way. Beat-heads would love the richness of sample sources throughout the track.

The players on "Stories to Tell" (the song) are as follows:

Flora Purim - Vocals
George Duke - Keyboards, ARP Synthesizer
Earl Klugh - Guitar
Airto - Drums, Percussion
King Errisson - Congas
Miroslav Vitous - Bass, Moog Synthesizer solo

Flora Purim - Stories to Tell (MP3)

Weekly Rip - 12/13/09

2009-12-13T21:41:00.003-05:00

So I thought it would be a good idea to start sharing joints from my collection. This is the first edition.

I found this 45 at one of my local digging spots, along with a bunch of other great joints, but this is definitely one of the best. From the label Karen, which was distributed by ATCO. They formed in 1962 and disbanded by the end of the decade. From what I can (and can't) find about this 7inch on the net is that it's a hard to find joint. So yeah, here you go......And you know the jingle from the Cool Whip whipped cream commercials? It's taken from their song "Cool Jerk", obviously "whip" replaces "jerk" in the commercials.

The track has a nice groove to it, nice guitar & bass work in a 60's soul style.

The Capitols - Soul Brother, Soul Sister (Karen, 45-1543)

Upcoming Projects

2009-11-23T21:39:00.006-05:00

My computer that I hold all my project files on won't turn on. But when I get the extra dough, I'm gonna get the files off the harddrive and transferred on to some cd's. I do got one or the album in the MPC right now though, a sweet, sophisticatitedly funky, soul joint, ripe for the right voice to sing over.

In the meantime, I think I'm gonna try and put together a short hip hop compilation joint, like a maxi 12inch type joint, but digitally. 2 minute songs tops. It's all in my head right now. Songs on side A, and the instrumentals on side B alongside a remix or two. Trust me on this.

And I got two tracks on the upcoming release from Lancaster, PA's JustNice in collab with Portland, Oregon's Choze. Its called "Respect Earned" and is dropping on Christmas Day. The two have been working together for a few years, so the chemistry is there despite the 3000+ miles in between them. JustNice sent me a few tracks off the record and I must say, the shit is ill. I'm a very picky hip hop dude, but these joints I heard were dope. I'll keep yall posted when it drops.

http://www.myspace.com/justnicemsc <---JustNice

http://www.myspace.com/chozeakajohnnymartian <---Choze

Peace.

Afrika Baby Bam - Beyond This World (Bruce Geetz Afro Funk Remix)

2009-10-22T17:35:00.006-04:00

What's good yall? It's been a while, but I got some new music to share.

This is a remix I've been sitting on for the past 6 months or so.

I forget how I came across the 12inch for the Jungle Brothers "Beyond This World", but I was immediately drawn to the bassapella version of the title song. It only features Afrika Baby Bam's verse, but that was enough for me to fire up the MPC and see what I could do. I had been on a big Afro-funk kick around the time I was working on this track (which was originally going to be a joint on my EP) and the fast tempo of the JB's track was perfect for a West African inspired back drop to be crafted behind it. I grabbed some drums off of probably 5 or more records, layered and sequenced them, threw some extra percussion & congas behind them for that Afro feel, then it was off it find a sample. First I tried a loop I got off a Hugh Masekela album, but I felt I needed to add my own touch to the track, so I dismantled the track, re-arranged the drums, and ran through some more records.

I finally found the main guitar sample off a Fred Wesley/James Brown 45 I had picked up in Philly not too long before I started the remix. It's a pretty known guitar line, so I chopped it up and re-arranged it for a completely different feel, which added a nice bounce to the track. For the bassline I grabbed a Lonnie Liston Smith record, chopped up some open bass (which I have used on a bunch of tracks since), again re-arranged it, and gave the track a much needed bottom end to solidify the funk.

The acapella on the 12inch was only 38 seconds, or something around there, so I had to add a little intro to it, so it could at least hit the 1 minute mark. And there you have it. I played it for a few friends who all though it was dope, then it sat the past few months inside of a folder in my computer until I grabbed this cheap audio interface so I could finally record tracks outta my MPC 1000.

Hope you enjoy!

Afrika Baby Bam - Beyond This World (Bruce Geetz Afro-Funk Remix)

If that link doesn't work use this:
http://www.zshare.net/audio/67391256789c1b84/

PS: Stay Tuned for some more music from me, along with some vinyl rips of some rare joints that I own.

Ch-Check It Out

2009-08-31T10:56:00.002-04:00

(Still Fresh) 2008 Remixes

2009-07-22T01:16:00.004-04:00

These are two remixes I did back sometime in mid-2008. I got one more classic joint that I was working on a remix for around the same time that I did these two, but I couldn't find a sample! It's still a bare-bones drum & vocal track until I go back to it at some point.

The first is Ladybug Mecca's (of Digable Planets) verse on the classic "9th Wonder" off of the equally classic Blowout Comb album. I didn't remix the whole song because I couldn't fit the entire acapella from the 12" on my MPC 1000's (no RAM upgrades over here!). So I just sampled in her verse at 45 rpm's and just pitched it down to the original tempo. I found a nice sample from a brazilian record, chopped it up some, threw a classic break underneath, spiced it up with some 808 sounds arranged in a way inspired by Latin percussion, and added some horns and guitar at the end sampled from two other LP's.

The second is two verses from Rakim's "The Saga Begins". Pete Rock laced the original no doubt, but hey, 12's have acapella's on them for a reason. Can't really remember the back story for this one. I might've sampled an unsung Stax artist for this one but I can't remember. Threw a little vocal sample on for the hook and that was that. And oh, I actually tracked this joint out to my computer in the most low budget fashion. I hooked up the headphone out from the mpc, to the record in on my computer and first recorded in the vocals, then I recorded in the sample w/o drums, then I recorded the drums (I was using cool edit pro). It was a pain but it got the job done.

Ladybug Mecca - 9th Wonder (Bruce Geetz Remix)

Rakim - The Saga Begins (Bruce Geetz Remix)

Both of these were recorded straight off the mpc, so they are both lo-fi affairs, but they are most definitely headphone worthy. The Mecca one has a little low rumbling at the end of every 4th bar I believe (dirty records can bite you in the ass) but hey, it might just be that I nitpick with basically anything I do.

Hope you enjoy!

Don't Call It A Comback!......Forgot I had a blog!

2009-07-15T10:54:00.000-04:00

It has been a while since I've made a post on this blog, but I figured I'd come back to it and start to work on it again.

To get yall up to speed, I'm working on a solo project right now. I have a few joints done, but its a constant work in progress. I've made some big strides as of late as far as realizing where I want to go with it. It'll be funky though, that's all I can promise.

Hopefully I'll have some new music up soon. In the meanwhile, I'll throw some remixes up in my next post, hopefully later today or tomorrow.