FACT mix 222: Urban Tribe

While Carl Craig and Derrick May were preparing to headline the show at Manhattan’s very fancy District 36 night club last month – to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Planet E label, their fellow #313 legend/producer Stingray (real name Sherard Ingram) unleashed this monstrosity in the form of a new Urban Tribe mix on Fact Mag! We have been jamming to this for weeks, and  it’s only getting fresher with each listen. Indeed this is one of the best in the long-running series (the King Midas Sound was my favorite last year.) In their words: this is serious, serious shit, and we recommend that you listen to it LOUD, ideally while driving round your city at night. Don’t have a car? Get one. Nuff said!

Geoff Manaugh, author of the BLDGBLOG book & blog,  will join DJ Rupture on Mudd Up! w/ DJ Rupture on WFMU tonight betweeen 7-8pm. Geoff’s a consistently fascinating writer on architecture, contributing editor to Wired UK, and a former techno DJ. Expect discussion to range from architectural acoustics & unexpected sample-discovery to a selection of Geoff’s favorite techno.

You already know the drill, tune in, throw in comments, questions, get involved, & heat up. Again, tonight @ 7PM.

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For those outside our FM broadcast range, WFMU offers live streaming and even has its own free iPhone app!

Pulshar – Ashmatic

Pulshar‘s Brotherhood has been in heavy rotation lately.  It has some spectacular tunes I return to time and again, but frankly I listen the album in its entirety perhaps more than I should.  We like to keep things dutty and heavy here, but a little clean, beautiful, soulful tech-dub from Bercelona is appreciated.  We played “Mr Money Man” on Tax Day (4/15) on Mudd Up! with DJ Rupture, a show you can also stream here.  Update: I’ve changed the tune from “Mr Money Man” to “Ashmatic” for a good reason.  “Ashmatic” is also part of the excellent Babylon Fall Collection.

Tony Allen – Ole (Moritz Von Oswald Remix)

There is a lot going on here – a world shrinking and expanding, traditional Yoruba ceremonial drums and chants being laced with spacious/spacey (digital?) synth-pads, you can feel the continents drifting closer and apart as the sounds unfold, combine, and mingle, the relationship between Africa and Europe in the 21st century.

I started listening to Rhythm & Sound and Basic Channel around 2004.  They, Moritz Von Oswald and Mark Ernestus, struck me as complex, disciplined, sophisticated musicians.  In the video below from sometime late last year, Moritz answers questions, explains his/their history, economic philosophy, work ethic, etc., at length as the audience and the interviewer sip Red Bull and doze off, and vibe to the music.  It’s great to hear/see him talk, but you have to brave the aggressive marketing overkill for Red Bull.  I would like to read or watch an extensive interview with him conducted in a different environment, but this one is alright for now, I guess –it’s relaxed, and he appears to be comfortable.

As I listened to Moritz’s German accent, I thought about one of Rupture’s point in an interview with Plan B magazine – “the internet contributes to the spread of English-language hegemony.”  I also thought about my African/Sierra Leonean accent, which is not very strong but it’s there –a constant reminder that I am speaking other peoples’ language rather than my own. What if the interview was done in German and translated or transcribed for English and other speakers? That would be too much trouble, an unnecessary struggle, right? Red Bull Music Academy is an annual international affair hosted in cities around the world, features guest lecturers and participants, and almost everyone who spoke, had some form of accent (including British.)