DJ Rupture, Maluca, Total Freedom, Shawn Reynaldo, Oro 11, & Mas Exitos bringing the tropical whomp in San Francisco and Los Angeles this weekend. FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS CABRONES! Epic.

Friday December 9th @ El Globo in LA:

Saturday December 10th @ Elbo Room in SF:

I’ve been on the road lately trying to get my worldwide airmiles up like the Jetlag King- DJ /Rupture. Miles to go before I sleep or even come close on that one, but the result thus far has been getting to play with a lot of ladies and gents I respect and admire and making friends of them along the way. Coming up in a couple weeks here in NYC, Que Bajo?! and Conrazon are collaborating with SOB’s to debut a friend and inspiration of mine by the name of Humberto Pernett. I wanted to take the time explain to you all who this guy is on a personal level as I’ve recently spent a great deal of time with him in Cali for the Petronio Festival and got to know his story.

Pernett’s dad was one of the founders of el Carnaval de Barranquilla. He grew up around amazing musicians his whole life. His aunt Carmencita Pernett was one of the first artists to take cumbia to mexico. Artists born in this type of conditioning? Femi Kuti comes to mind..

I think just by looking at the record cover you can tell dude’s family were some serious party people.

It was inevitable from his upbringing that Pernett would go on to explore los ritmos de la costa. Tambora, cumbia, bullerengue, puya, mapale sound more like the names of root vegetable or ingredients to a sancocho stew than names of rhythms but then all these styles are so distinctly satisfying on the dancefloor that their cohesion only make sense when you think about them that way.

Taking a blessing from his musical godmother, Toto la Momposina, Pernett would go further south to Bogota where he would meet Richard Blair, a UK-born producer and they would go on to form the band Sidestepper whose 3am: In beats we trust album would reverberate worldwide.

As someone who listened to the 6 degrees music label early on, and a researcher of world music fusion for quite some time I can say with confidence that the music from that album would go on to inspire a great many producers for years to come. Our global/tropical bass scene has a lot to thank them for. Electronic music, indeed, but at its essence their sound was a less mechanical and rooted deeply in Colombia’s rich musical heritage. It was a clearly defined turning point for Latin music.

Moving on to work on his own projects Pernett has continued folding time and space to create his own blend of psychodelic caribbean sounds. Carving a sound very much his own.

I invite you to listen to his soundcloud where he has over 100 original tracks and remixes uploaded

Change isn’t an overnight thing. The last car in the roller coaster sees the turn before it happens. But from where I’m standing, Pernett is a largely unsung hero who has and is helping shape the future of latin music.  He’s someone that we should pay a lot more attention to. He’s so far ahead of the pack that it will probably be another couple years before the world catches up to his sound let alone his performance capabilities.  His ableton live set up lets him trigger and effect tracks, while playing gaita or any number of traditional instruments which he can also effect, while singing and dropping some surreal visuals using his filters on his laptop cam. He’s one of those artists that keeps pushing himself to do more. To be more. And you should too. Be there to see him Oct 9th and feel more.

Que Bajo?! & Conrazon Present

Pernett (Colombia)

Oct 9th @ SOB’s $10 /10pm

In celebration of that and the amazing couple weeks that I’ve just had playing Central Park Summer Stage with Dutty Artz sistren Rita Indiana and Colombia’s Choquibtown, Lincoln Center’s Midsummer Night’s Swing with Lisandro Mesa and Que Bajo?! with Bogota’s El Freaky Crew I’m feeling like sharing is caring.

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Las Cuatro Palomas Remix by Geko Jones & DJ Reaganomics

NPR premiered this track a few days ago but here it is for download to the world. Built with my long time homie DJ Reaganomics this is a summer banger you can finish out the year with. I should note that I have been looking for a track ID on the vocalist so anyone that can give me a hard confirmation on any of the leads I have its appreciated.

Let’s talk about letting the weird back out. Let’s talk about the Eternals.

[from their literally genre-defining album Rawar Style]

Their new album Approaching the Energy Field is very much an Album Experience of the sort which appeals to my ever-nostalgic cracker cerebellum (strangely, it is the same part of me that loves noise). Most reviews of their work highlight the genre-hyphening aspects of their sound, which is understandable; dub, arkestry, punk and various other styles resonate in harmony within their mix. What I hear, though, is a personality that is at once singular, communal and universal.  You can stream a lot of the tracks off the album at the link above, but I feel like the deep listening that is best enjoyed far away from your computer is really the way to enjoy this stuff.

Don’t get me wrong, though.  The music here isn’t really about nostalgia as much as it is about saudade, for after the sugar-rush when we’re each weirder for having met one another.

This one is a scorcher, my first encounter with “ragga-hop.”

The Caribbean’s answer to Beyoncé, Triniti is a soulful songstress, sassy singjay, and hard-hitting deejay wrapped in an irresistibly exotic package.

Nuff said.

Ms Triniti – Wi Burnin (Woy Yoy Yoy)

Which one is Ms Trini?

[[Oye familia! -- one of my favorite inter-peoples, Word the Cat, will be duttying things up in here from time to time! lets WELCOME THE CAT -Rupture]]

the road mix strips it down to the drums. follow the truck. more haste less speed. it’s carnival time.

this mix still breathing exhaust

sanell dempster – heat (road mix)
fay ann lyons – get on (dizipline road mix)
kes the band – de remedy (badman dizipline road mix)
machel montano – blazin d trail (road mix)
roy cape all stars f/ blaxx – breathless (road mix)
roy cape all stars f/ blaxx – breathless (illusion mix)
one republic f/ timbaland – apologyze (dizipline soca mix)

carnival starts with j’ouvert. I-Wayne said soca is “dancing with demons“. that’s just people getting open in the masquerade… 3canal bring dutty mas. paint and mud.

“They say mas’ is a jumbie. It just gets inside your blood. It don’t make sense… For the rest of the year you are not going to take off your clothes and put nastiness on your body and walk down the road and wine on your head and jump with strange men. It requires taking a certain amount of risk. There is that dark, scary element to it. It is a literal journey from darkness into light.” from.

soca resources: masala / soca lime / cyan wait / more 3canal / chutney soca mix