Unfortunately Rita has cancelled her US dates for the summer- but have no fear- she’ll be taking over stateside hearts and minds soon enough. As this track makes it to all the right ears your going to be hearing a lot more from her.

Cop at iTUNES, BOOMKAT, TTL

My new solo instrumental album Flowers is out!  YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

It took me a while to get this out, longer than I’d like considering it’s on my own label but now it’s out and it feels GOOD!  I love completing projects.  But it’s not done!  Now I have to actually sell some copies!  If you or your grandma or your friends on the internet would like to support the Dutty Artz movement and contribute to the cause of me buying diapers, catfood and continuing my lavish lifestyle for me and my young family that would be great!  There are many places to buy it.  Here is a list:

BUY MATT SHADETEK – FLOWERS:

FREE DOWNLOADS:
AND if you missed them you can get some free downloads including two songs from the album and a podcast DJ mix I did for XLR8R:

Download ‘Funny Cats’ from The FADER

Download ‘iHop’ from XLR8R

Download the podcast mix from XLR8R

Stream ‘Funny Cats’ from Soundcloud:

Funny Cats by mattshadetek

Chief Boima‘s Techno Rumba EP is available now on iTunes, at Amazon and Boomkat! Read more about it + show some class & drop some change, people!

Techno Rumba is the excellent, official debut EP from San Francisco/Bay Area producer Chief Boima. Techno Rumba, the latest in a stream of digital EPs from Dutty Artz, is a pleasantly fresh and elegant take on Afrobeat and contemporary African dance music. It features two original tracks from Chief Boima; the irresistible “Baobab Connect” and the stunning title cut “Techno Rumba,” which boasts a pair of remixes from  Dutty Artz own DJ /rupture & Matt Shadetek and Uproot Andy.  /Rupture and Shadetek are fresh off remixing Gang Gang Dance and Telepathe and turn in an immersive and hallucinogenic afro-colombian flavored edit while Uproot Andy aims straight at the dance floor with his Ojalá Rumba version which has been inciting madness at Dutty Artz New York Tropical parties for months.

Chief Boima is a DJ, Musician, and Beat Composer on a mission to rep Africa like the World Cup in 2010. Boima is resident DJ at the Bay Area’s number one international club Baobab Village, where he regularly takes San Francisco’s residents around the world with global urban club sounds. Of mixed American and Sierra Leonean Heritage, Chief Boima blends the Hip Hop and Electronic Dance styles he absorbed as a youth growing up in the U.S. Midwest with the Afro Pop lineage passed down from his family.

He puts it best himself: “What’s important about Boabab is that it is an African club in the heart of the city’s main nightlife districts where Africans can go to a place that feels like home in America but it’s not marginalized as an ethnic club on the outskirts of the city. The music reflects this.  Drawing influences from the Mission (historically latin) neighborhood, but also from all of our upbringings as first and second generation Africans, and an identity as black people in America. It is a place where I’ve been able to bridge the disparate worlds’ that I grew up in and create something that represents myself and my diverse experiences through music.”

We are reppin’ Africa like the 2010 World Cup!

Techno Rumba tracklist

01 Chief Boima – Techno Rumba
02 Chief Boima – Baobab Connect
03 Chief Boima – Techno Rumba (DJ /rupture and Matt Shadetek Remix)
04 Chief Boima – Techno Rumba (Uproot Andy Ojalá Rumba Remix)

Just about everyone in the DA camp will be in Austin this week for SXSW… everyone except /rupture who will be holding down NY in our absence. If you have the privilege of time/cashflow to get down to Austin- come say whats up- if not- I’ve got a nice new treat for you. Chief Boima, whose African By The Bay E.P. absolutely took the world by storm a few months ago has a got a new E.P. entitled “Techno Rumba” set to drop at the end of next month.

DJ /rupture took the instrumental remix that he and Matt Shadetek did of the title track “Techno Rumba” and invited one of our favorite artists, Kalup Linzy, to add his magic vocals on top. This is straight post-breakup soul-searching material. If your not familiar and DOWN with Linzy’s work- act like you know. NEXT LEVEL.

Chief Boima “Techno Rumba (DJ /rupture & Matt Shadetek remix feat. Kalup Linzy)”

Catch Boima down south this week.
Wed: Bersa Discos party 9-10pm
Fri: at Creekside 1-2am
Sat: in San Antonio at Lava Lounge

It feels practically useless telling anyone to go see anything in Austin- since the flux of people just moves along with its own brownian motion. But you can catch me tag-teaming with Mosholu Park Thursday early at Bersas, Friday night afterhours at the Green Owl Ranch, and Sunday out at Dubbel Dutch’s spot. Follow DA on twitter for more real-time updates.

The myth that once propelled bands to pay out of pocket to come out for events like SXSW and CMJ was of a label A&R discovery- and a consequent big signing bonus. Now that (hopefully) no one is waiting on that dream- we can all just admit that events like this can just be about celebrating quality music and finding some time to spend with your extended musical family.

Check the post below for JD and Matts SXSW damage.

This tune is on Solar Life Raft and Sara Taigher’s animation; here’s the unmixed original. Look for it on 12″ soon.

Solar Life Raft- the mix that keeps on giving- has finally made its way to your local record stores. /rupture and Shadetek working together is a serious Voltron force. It’s safe to say that I have listened to SLR over a hundred times since it was recorded- and I’m still finding reasons to go back. Opening with Time-Blind’s abstract tone poetry and closing with a gorgeous re-work from /rupture and Shadetek of Telepathe, it’s easy to miss all the ground the mix has covered.

Tracklists are the weird anathema of the DJ Mix- always reminding us as producers and consumers that for some reason the sounds cant just stand alone. A tracklist can mark a DJ’s access to dub-plates and exclusives or their prodigal digging- but always the tracklist serves as a sort of roadmap for listeners that want to go beyond the mix and gain some traction in it. Often I’ll look to a track list before deciding whether or not to listen to a given mix. Or I will return to the tracklist after hearing something amazing that I want to be up on.

SLR stands alone without the tracklist- and the hype that goes along with it- people read the tracklist and think, “Wow, this sure is eclectic”- but it’s not grab bag by any means- its laser precision etched in bass. It is hard to believe after listening to SLR that you’ve just digested sounds as seemingly diverse as Cardopusher, Paavoharju, and Luc Ferrari. One you get used to these sorts of mixes- where genre-orthodoxy and rigid notions of sonic-geographies are left behind- it gets pretty fucking hard to go back to an hour of any BPM mixed seamlessly at the start of 8, 16 and 32 bar phrases and movements.

/rupture and Shadetek can really cook in the lab. I’ve always rated Matt for his back-from-the-crossroads skills in Logic. I mean- from what I know- he was the first stateside producer to actually be doing production for grime dudes in London. /rupture on the other hand has always been off in a zone that seemed far more experimental- where quantization was frowned upon and standard timing or track development was laughed out the door. Through the last few years they seem to have tempered each others workflows and styles in all the right ways- and SLR should be an announcement that these two can make tracks with the very best of them. The album is almost a third original production and its the home grown tracks that really provided the convincing narrative that holds the mix together.

Effusive praise can ring hallow coming from ones own crew- but I’m not just trying to ramp up sales- Solar Life Raft is remarkable. Do whatever your ethical radar tells you in regard to consuming music and somehow, someway, find yourself a copy. If that happens to be amazon, boomkat, itunes, or beatport….just think of it as investing in more music.

Matt Shadetek – Strength In Numbers

Gang Gang Dance – Bebey (DJ /rupture and Matt Shadetek Remix)

Head over to RCRDLBL to get an exclusive tune from the new cumbia / cumbia digital compilation, put together by the deepest digger we know, Sonido Martines!

Los Destellos – Elsa (Sonido Martines remix feat Fefe)

the jam in question is Sonido himself remixing legendary Peruvian chicha cumbia band, Los Destellos de Enrique Delgado, with remix assistance by Fefe, a Brazilian firecracker on the mic. In one example of how Sonido Martines works, he tracked down Los Destellos, explained to them what was going on in the slippery world of ‘new cumbia’, and with their blessings got permission to flip this remix. Now-thing realness with respect for the foundational musicans!

the comp esta muy wapo… Sonido Martines presents: Nueva Cumbia Argentina! fresh heat from nu-skoolers like El Hijo de la Cumbia, Fauna, and Chancha Via Circuito, and visionary early material from DJ Taz and Damas Gratis, and more! 12″ and digital out now: iTunes / Amazon / Boomkat, etc. K VIVA LA KUMBIA!!

also, I just read a book called Evolution’s Shore, about an alien ecosystem near Mt Kilimanjaro. Bad cover art, good book! I’ve read some quality sci-fi set in Africa, but no sci-fi written by Africans. Any recommendations?

& remember, Africans are real!

Jahdan Blakkamoore – Earthshaking

Jahdan is “one of the most versatile vocalists in the world.” Exclaim

Respect to Maga Bo for the production on this.

BUZZROCK WARRIOR is in stores and online now!  iTunes, Amazon, Boomkat, HMV for digital.

Here’s a list of key US retailers; where you can pick up a physical copy of the album:

AKA Music – Philadelphia
Amoeba SF / Berkeley / Hollywood
Angelos – Colorado
Bull Moose – Maine (9 locations)
Cheapo – Minnesota (4 locations)
Criminal Records – Atlanta
Dimple – Sacramento
Disc Exchange – Knoxville, TN
Disc N Dat – Tacoma, WA
Everyday Music – Oregon (Multiple Locations)
Ear Xtacy – Louisville, KY
Easy Street – Seattle, WA
Electric Fetus – Minneapolis / St Paul, MN (2 locations)
Fingerprints – Long Beach, CA
Graywhale – Salt Lake City, UT (7 locations)
Grimeys – Nashville, TN
Park Avenue – Orlando, FL (2 locations)
Twist And Shout – Denver, CO
Independent Records – Colorado (6 locations)
J&R – NYC
Melody Records – Washington, DC
Music Millenium – Portland, OR
Newbury Comics – New England (Mass/RI/CT)
Other Music – NYC
Rasputins – SF/Bay Area (7 locations)
Salzers – Ventura, CA
Shake It – Cincinnati, OH
Silver Platters – Seattle / Tacoma, WA (3 locations)
Sonic Boom – Washington (2 locations)
Soundgarden – Baltimore, MD
Streetlight – San Jose/Santa Cruz, CA (2 locations)
Vons – Lafayette, IN
Waterloo – Austin, TX
Zia – Arizona + las Vegas (10 locations)

Hit up iTunes (exclusive bonus track “Decadance”) Amazon, Boomkat,  HMV (free delivery in the UK!) Record Store UK… any of these fine music retailers, show some class and cop the disc, MP3, FLAC, whatever!

And don’t forget about Que Bajo?! album release dance party this Thursday w/ Jahdan, Shadetek, Eddie Stats, DJ Rekha, Uproot Andy, and Sir Geko Jones!

Available now at Boomkat, eMusic, Juno, and other digital download stores, in MP3, WAV, and FLAC formats, a new release from Dutty Artz by a powerful vocalist/musician Mariana Yegros. The original track “Trocitos De Madera” produced by King Coya is followed by some extra-special remixes from DJ /rupture and Matt Shadetek, El Remolon, and Marcelo Fabian, throwing the pieces in other exciting directions, with fantastic results.

Artwork designed, and enhanced with handcrafted details, by a wonderful artist Claudia Rivas. As you can, it is absolutely beautiful. Claudia is also behind the cover of Solar Life Raft.

For the last few months, Jahdan has been constantly, sonically bombing the internet with quality heat.  If you think the tracks on Bazooka Shot were crazy, just wait until you hear the album. Better yet, head over to iTunes, where you can preview and buy the first single from the album Buzzrock Warrior.  The single is called “She Said”and it features 77klash.  Jahdan’s voice is beautiful and pure on this one, but the beat and the bass are shifty, and Klash spits some cryptic, classic lines on this.  The album comes out September 15th (9/14 for those in the UK!), which is just around the corner. Get hustlin, get ready!

Lyrical badman Jahdan Blakkamoore discusses his career thus far, how he linked up with Brooklyn’s Dutty Artz crew, started listening to dubstep, hip-hop, and grime, and his new album Buzzrock Warrior, out September 15th on Gold Dust. For more info, check out… BUZZROCK WARRIOR site.

Buy it:

Japan: Newtone

UK: Juno, Black Market, HTFR

Netherlands: Triple Vision

Click here to view the embedded video.

A big thanks to everyone who bought and voted for Jahdan’s group Noble Society’s album Take Charge on iTunes this year earning it the iTunes 2008 Best Reggae Album honors. The record is sick and Jah D, Diego Fuego and Delie have been working hard on it for a good long while, very nice to see some recognition coming back to the family. A big shout to Moon and everyone over at the Lustre Kings label, they’ve got a lot more exciting reggae music out and more coming.

Listen to clips from Take Charge here, and buy it here.