>>>PRTY<>MZK<<<<

So last night we held a party at the east river mansion (aka my apt.) in honor for the birthday of DJ Mend-Madness. It was a gathering filled with good food, good people, plenty of booze and good music.  I would like to thank all those of you who stopped on over last night. And as a show of my gratitude I am providing an absolutely killer mix from last nights festivities. It is a collection of the old and the new, the obscure to the ever so familiar, and in general a celebration of all good things groove. Hope you enjoy.

The Whole Thing:

PRTYMZK.zip

                                        

                                            ****Hot Track Highlights!!!****

Guru - Le Bein Le Mal (feat. MC Solaar)

Erma Franklin - Piece of my Hearts

Uptown Top Ranking - Althea & Donna

Track List:

Could It Be I'm Falling in Love 4:10 The Spinners Smash Hits (Atlantic LP)

Sono Bugiarda 2:48 Benn LOXO DU TACCU BLOG (italian covers)

The Twist 2:38 Hank Ballard & the Midnighters Sexy Ways: The Best of Hank Ballard & the Midnighters

Mas O Menos 3:41 The Budos Band The Budos Band II

Sparkle City 5:56 Shuggie Otis Inspiration Information

Le Bein, Le Mal 3:20 Guru Jazzmatazz Volume 1

If You Want Me To Stay 2:56 Sly & The Family Stone http://greekmp3s.blogspot.com

Respect (Stereo) 2:29 Aretha Franklin I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You

Rome (Wasn't Built In A Day) 2:34 Sam Cooke Ain't That Good News (Remastered)

Nobody's Baby 2:28 Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings 100 Days, 100 Nights

Gimme Gimme Good Lovin' 2:04 Crazy Elephant

September (Radio Edit) 3:38 Earth Wind & Fire The Great Earth, Wind & Fire

Piece Of My Heart 2:43 Erma Franklin Soul Sides: Volume One R&B

Bang Bang 2:47 I Corvi

Hook and Sling 2:37 Eddie Bo 7"

Uptown Top Ranking 3:52 Althea & Donna Trojan Box Set - UK Hits (Disc 3)

Africa Unite 2:54 Bob Marley Natural Mystic- The Legend Liv Reggae

Hwehwe Mu Na Yi Wo Mpena 7:51 K. Frimpong and His Cubano Fiestas Ghana Soundz: Afro Beat, Funk and Fusion in 70's Ghana

Peg  5:29 DJ Ransom

Fela Kuti: The Man, The Myth, The Father of Afro-Beat

This Nigerian artist has been gaining renewed attention in the last few years. With bands like the Antibalas and the Budos Band copying the funky, layered, horn heavy Afro-Beat sound, as well as a recent musical on his life and an upcoming biopic by one of America's premier production companies (Focus Features), the so called father of afro-beat is finally getting the recognition he deserves for influencing a modern music worldwide. Though I have little empirical evidence of this fact, his sound and his personality (He was also a prominent political activist figure, and at one point was husband to twelve wives) make him, in my opinion, one of the most influential and global musicians to have perhaps ever been. Here is an example of his cross genre influence with a track from rapper Wale (pronounced:Wah-Lay, who also happens to be of Nigerian descent), shown to me by DJ Cal Tek that is heavily influenced by afro-beat. Also I am including one of my favorite Fela songs "Lady" and an older Fela tune (before he fully developed his style) as soon as I get the link to work.

Wale - Freestyle (roc boys) (this track is courtesy of DJ Cal Tek)

Fela Kuti - Lady

Fela Kuti & Koola Lobitos - Ololufe Mi

Snapshot of an American Folk Artist: Dan Bern

The catalog of Dan Bern is not very widely received.  His name, as far as my circle of experience goes, is largely preserved through sparse publicity (most recently, this is actually bigger news, he was contracted to write the soundtrack to dewy cox) and the remanence of a single song. "The Jerusalem Song" is curiously well known among Jewish summer camp attendees for just any song by an obscure jewish folk artist.  In fact this is how I myself know Dan Bern, from a counselor named Ben Dreyfus when I was in the fourth grade.  I suppose the song is played because it is fun, and is kept because of its name as opposed to its subject matter.  The song is supposed to be about Dan Bern's (formerly Dan Bernstein) trip to Jerusalem to visit his sister.  But little is said about Jerusalem,  and still for the aforementioned reasons the song is played throughout jewish establishments.  Bern's status among fans  is something between obscure jewish folk musician and respected industry type (he does have a professional/artistic associations with Ani DiFranco)  but I am not sure he is either. This fact or confusion is compounded by Bern's curious personality.  He is also a painter and a writer.  He is the type of artist where you begin to realize that he doesn't attempt to focus on writing impressive songs, and rather focuses on the process of writing songs themselves.  In short he is a songwriter by trade.  Not surprisingly his sound is often compared to that of Bob Dylan, though usually in a derisive manner, but who can honestly pass judgement.  I remember a scene from No Direction Home where Joan Baez tells a story about Bob Dylan just sitting down at a type writer typing out words then being at a loss as to how to explain them or just saying something along the lines of  "you decide".  Bob Dylan gains his strength (along with his catchy tunes) from his musicality, the time from which he came (which was culturally very attentive) and the eloquence with which he portrayed the feeling of a time (both musically and lyrically).  Dan Bern, I feel, gains his strength from a much less tangible source that I mentioned  earlier but only briefly, his honesty and consistency.  His sound can be described as derivative but I feel that would be missing the point.  The fact is that Bern has a style that has comes about from pursuing a craft and being prolific.  An intangible quality that has something mystical to do with the Edisonian ratio of ten percent inspiration ninety percent perspiration.  Bob Dylan was surely a brilliant musician and I love his music but I feel the ethos of his work to be a little scattered, this may be a vague criticism or not even a criticism at all.  The recent movie on Bob Dylan, Im Not There , seemed to find fascination in this fact, and I guess so do I.  But personally speaking its less erratic nature lends  Bern's music to be something more easily relatable, and isn't that one of the many reasons we listen to "folk" music? The fact is that, while Bob Dylan can span generations and genres, Bern is one of the rare artists who finds his niche in a highly stylized form  with an honesty and fluency that just sounds refreshing.  Im not saying one is better than the other, in fact I want to take this opportunity to make explicitly clear that in not what I mean.  I am merely trying to distinguish my appreciation of Bern's approach to his craft that I hold in high regard.  Either way its good stuff, enjoy.

Jerusalem Song - Dan Bern

Trudy - Dan Bern

Visit My Dreams - Dan Bern

The Ocarina of Rhyme: A Mash-up of My Childhood

I am not much of a video game person.  In fact I would say I suck at video games, so if there was a game that I ever had the attention span to obsess over it must have been good.  This is the case with Zelda: Ocarina of Time, holding claim to the only video game I have actually ever completed.  In fact, this game is so fucking good that over winter break two years ago I decided to play it all over again.  At the age of ten years old this game was my life, not just me though either.  Anyone of my generation who owned a Nintendo 64 knows how much this game rocked.  It was the talk of the playground for months on end.  Well thanks to some dude (or dudette) named Team Teamwork, we get to relive our childhood through a totally bitching mash-up of songs from Ocarina of Time and the lyrical stylings of such artists as Jay-Z, Clipse, Pimp C,  Mike Jones, and many more.  I am so giddy I can hardly contain myself.

Clipse - Virginia (Lost Woods)

Edan - Fumbling Over Words (Battle)

Slim Thug & Mike Jones - Still Tippin' (Great Fairy's Fountain)

or find it here...

http://www.sendspace.com/file/45pogy

One For My Friends and Enemies: Roasted Chicken

Jairo Moreno is a musician, food enthusiast, proud Columbian, and bad-ass. Also I would not discredit him for being a large inspiration for this blog. His harmony and counterpoint lectures would always fluctuate between ruminations on philosophy, food, music theory, and reminding us (through various incarnations) of the long arm of Columbian justice. Almost every morning he would greet our class of about twenty five music students referring to us as "my friends and enemies". He was notorious for pulling out any of our names mid-sentence, sometimes to ask a question and sometimes for no reason at all. Needless to say this man kept us on our toes, all while teaching us lessons on the finer points of criticism, the creative process, and the world at large. I am sure that no one in harmony and counterpoint 1 will ever forget his anecdote on the 6/4 chord and the "butter slut potatoes" (in short both are a one trick pony says Jairo and "you don't call back a 6/4 chord"). Here is a recipe that Jairo gave me after hearing of my moderately successful attempt at a roasted chicken. "This is the best roasted chicken recipe in America" says Jairo. It is a recipe from Zumi Cafe in San Francisco that is nationally renowned for its brick oven roasted chicken.

This preparation is mad legit, I cooked it for my family over winter break to great success. The skin turns out crispy and the bird at large is juicy and flavorful through and through. The 24 hour marinating period im not sure is entirely necessary, the aspect that separates this method from the rest of the pack is the cooking method. 500 degrees F is a pretty formidable cooking temperature and turning the bird mid roast was something new to me as well, but in the end it is all well worth it.

1 Chicken

Garlic

Thyme

Aprox. 1tbs olive oil

salt to taste

Rub the the above mentioned seasonings on and under the skin of the chicken and let sit, loosely covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Take out of refrigerator and let the chicken stand at room temperature for approximately 1 hour. Pre-heat oven to 500 (yes that is right 500 degrees). Roast for 30 min. breast side up. Flip bird. Roast for 15 min. breast side down. Let rest for about 10 min, then carve and enjoy.

A chicken safety reference guide

note: I am not completely sure on the proportions I just minced enough garlic and thyme so that I got decent coverage over the whole chicken. Even the cooking time will probably need some adjustment (for example I made a larger chicken so I extended the cooking time on each side a few minutes). As long as you don't go nuts with the seasoning the recipe will taste great. I will take this moment to remind you an important lesson of cooking: just do it. Cooking is a dynamic process, always different every time. Just like playing music, you can memorize a song or shred all the while, but in the end it is all about building your intuitions and making something that ultimately works for the moment. Oh yeah and failure is always essential, although it hurts a little more when it involves ten dollars worth of chicken.

Al Di Meola

You may not know the name Al Di Meola like you know the names Jimmy Page or even John Scofield, but despite this he is one of the towering figures of guitar alive in the world today.  He is probably most famous for his work with Chick Corea's jazz fusion band from the seventies Return to Forever.  Also he is known for his work playing flamenco/jazz in The Guitar Trio with two other of the worlds greatest guitar players, Paco De Lucia (known for his prowess in classical and flamenco guitar) and John McLaughlin (known for his work with Miles Davis and the Mahavishnu Orchestra).  Al Di Meola's solo career blends his fusion roots with his interest in spanish music (he himself is an Italian-American from New Jersey) to create a progressive style that pioneered the sound that led to such acts as Yngwie Malmstien and Dream Theater.  But more so than Malmstien and Dream Theater, with his unique set of influences and penchant for subtlety, Meola is able to create music that is as interesting melodically and texturally as it is technically speaking.  I am posting the a side of his 1978 album Casino, I ripped it off of a turntable and didn't separate the tracks, so my apologies.  Hope you loyal readers enjoy. And for you non-loyal readers I hope you enjoy it as well... then choke. Jkjk, but seriously you should follow this blog, more great music and recipes to come I guarantee.  

-Josh

Casino (side a) - Al Di Meola (1978)

Best and Worst of DJ New-money's Laptop: Part 1.

Hello reader, today I am doing something different. I didn't necessarily feel like going to the blog-office today so I am live-blogging direct from my roommates computer and will share with you some classic tracks from his i-tunes library. Here are three very solid selections from DJ Newmoney's music collection. Shot out to DJ O'Anna, for helping me choose the music and an appropriate DJ name, straight up from the 212.

Let's Stay Together - Al Green

C.R.E.A.M. - Wu Tang Clan

Blame it On Cain -Elvis Costello

HOT TUNA!

No this is not a recipe for making hot tuna, whatever that is.  Hot Tuna is a blues-folk spinoff of Jefferson Airplane that was formed in 1969 and still continues to play unto this day.  These guys, with their american roots/blues sound kinda remind me of something between Taj Mahal and very early Grateful Dead.  The first song "I Know You Rider" is a traditional, and  has been played many times over by famous bands such as the Grateful Dead and the Band as well as in the living rooms of many a folk enthusiast.  The second song is a really great instrumental song in an "American Primative" vein - the sound associated with such artists as Leo Kottke and John Fahey, as well as being a style of music I am quite partial to.

I Know You Rider - Hot Tuna

Mann's Fate - Hot Tuna

Silvio Rodriguez

Cuban born Silvio Rodriguez is a musician known the world around for both his music and poetry.  He is mainly a figure among the leftist Spanish speaking world, but I think he is pretty cool too, even if I have no clue what he is saying half the time.  I fist heard him when I was a sophomore in high-school, but I must admit I forgot about Silvio Rodriguez until a few weeks ago.  But coming back to his recordings with fresh ears I am in awe of the both the simplicity and breadth of his music, occurring simultaneously.  Silvio Rodriguez, for the most part, is one of those artists where the process of listening can easily become something of a meditative experience, that is to say something to get lost in.  The soothing sound of nylon string guitars, long ruminating progressions combined with the constant sound of urgency in Rodriguez's voice only add to this effect (I also think the fact that the music is in spanish has something to do with it as well, but that is a personal thing).   Though I have little idea what most of the songs are about, supposedly his poetry is very good.  Some of this comes through to the english speaking listener, in that his lyrics have an undeniable musicality and artful execution.  His lines and harmonies can, I guess, be considered a little atypical of most popular music, even for cuban/spanish influenced music, but that makes it all the more interesting.  But in short this guy sounds like something you've heard before, but never like this, and that is why he is renowned the world around. 

Silvio Rodriguez:

Playa Giron (dias y flores 1968)

Sueno Con Serpientes (dias y flores 1968)

La Era Esta Pariendo un Corazon (the Anthology of Silvio Rodriguez)

Yo Digo Que Las Estrellas (dias y flores 1968)

http://rs170.rapidshare.com/files/96350728/Silvio_Rodriguez_-_1978_-_Antologia.rar

Kugel: its your great aunt Sadie bending over to kiss you and accidentally brushing you with her goiter.

What is Kugle? Well it can be many things, but essentially its is any incarnation of a casserole  associated with the vast repertoire of jewish comfort foods.  The definition is a little more specific than the one I just mentioned, but if its a casserole rolling out on shabbas and some kind old woman is politely telling you why their mother's old recipe is better, its probably a Kugel.  The debate begins with the fact that kugel can be savory or sweet and made with variety of ingredients as its foundation: carrots, potatoes, matzah, and zucchini to name a few. But as my personal preference and tradition would have it, kugle is most often sweet and made from noodles.  A sweet kugel is more like a noodle puding and is usually made with cottage cheese and egg to bind the noodles and make it creamy.  In addition to make the kugle sweet a fair amount of sugar and some type of fruit (often raisins) are added.  The recipe I am sharing with you is my grandmothers recipe.  The recipe is pretty standard, as it uses egg noodles as its base and what is now a common kugel sweetener crushed pineapple (I find it hard to believe my eastern european ancestors, or anyones for that matter, had much pineapple around).   This recipe also uses less butter than most which is a good thing... maybe.  So I encourage everyone to try this very easy recipe out so that now you can tell your jewish friends that not only do you know what kugel is, you can make it too.  How cool is that.

Oh and why is kugel like your Great Aunt Sadie's bending over to give you a kiss and accidentally brushing you with her goiter?  Its not, but heres why I said it. 

And some more Jewish humor: Old Jews Telling Jokes

Grandma's Kugel

Wet Ingredients:

5 tbs. melted butter

1 lg. carton small curd cottage cheese

1 can (aprox. 20 oz.) crushed pineapple

4 eggs

9 tbs. sugar

12 oz. med. egg noodles

1 tbs. sugar and cinnamon to sprinkle on top.

1. Boil water and prepare noodles

2.  Beat eggs and in large bowl mix in  butter, cottage cheese, pineapple, and sugar.

3.  Mix noodles with egg mixture (preferably while noodles are not fresh out of the boiling water so as to prevent curdling of  eggs)

4. Pour into casserole dish and sprinkle to with cinnamon and sugar to taste.  (Many people like a corn-flake/some type of crunch topping, as pictured above, which can easily be applied to this recipe, probably while slightly extending the cooking time)

5. Bake for 1 hr. at 350.

-let stand 5 min. 

Enjoy!

Great Minds Think Alike...I hope.

So today I was checking out Soul-Sides (a highly recommended music blog) and saw that after I had willfully stolen their from their site, they have decided to steal from mine as well and present a mix by Manhattan MC Cool Calm Pete on the subject of, get this... food and music.  Sound Out-Loud is truly ahead of its time with proliferating this excellent combination to the inter-web, or right on it (this site is only about a week old after all), or at least on to something...I hope.  Either way i thought it was kinda cool that notable music blogger/scholar Oscar Wang hadn't thought the notion of food and music together to be too farfetched, plus the mix is pretty cool as well.

If you want to check it out, just do yourself a favor and go to Soul-Sides.

And in a similar vain, some more of the woman I love...

Fish in the Dish -Sharon Jones