the music of the earth

So a friend of mine, Janus sunaJ (who happens to be quite a scholar of mysticism, particularly gnosticism & hermeticism), asked me to make him a mix of "armenian, sufi qawalli, persian, malian, balkan & morrocan music". i've been tinkering on it this past week and of course added in some other cultures... some tuvan, romani, indian, andalusian, egyptian, kenyan, japanese, native american, etc...

it's become a sprawling 5+ hour mix of beautiful music from around the globe, loosely based around a concept of an initiatory meditation journey. i had quite a lot of fun with it. i hope you enjoy listening as much as i did. each "disc" is approx 75 minutes long. i recommend downloading all 4 and listening to them in order (accompanied by your favorite person & favorite sacrament!)

Michael's Meditation Musics pt. 1 "the surface is scratched"

✓ huun huur tu - prayer
✓ unknown west africa - Karamako
✓ Armand Amar - Song of the Red Dervish
✓ unknown sufi - Ferahfeza
✓ Istambul Oriental Ensemble - Basbasa
✓ Talvin Singh Taksim - Master Musicians Of Jajouka
✓ Sheik Yasin Al Tuhami - Qalbi Yuhaddithuni
✓ Claude Chalhoub - kaa
✓ Nass el Ghiwan - El Gasba
✓ Debashish Bhattacharya - Sufi Bhakti
✓ Shivkumar Sharma & Zakir Hussain - Raga Kedar, Gat In Ektaal
✓ Madjid Khaladj - Dayre
✓ La Notte - unknown
✓ Zakir Hussain - Where deserts meet
✓ Musafir - Moria Badnawa
✓ unknown african - Anklung
✓ Boubacar Diagne - Laye Laye
✓ unknown south african - Domba
✓ unknown sumerian - Hurrian Hymns, 19 And 23
✓ Hideaki Kuribayashi - Shouhin 1

download pt. 1 here

Michael's Meditation Musics pt. 2 "the road is winding"

✓ Djivan Gasparian - My Home
✓ A Hawk And A Hacksaw - Kiraly Siratás
✓ Claude Chalhoub - Track 04
✓ Shri Subhankar Banerjee - Tabla Tale
✓ Hossam Ramzy - Sha-Awit Katie (Katie's Cheeky Playfulness)
✓ Hossam Ramzy & Rafa El Tachuela - Ahlam Ghernatah (Memories of Old Granada)
✓ Gritos De Guerra - Buleria
✓ Gnawa Diffusion - Gazel Au Fond De La Nuit
✓ Slonovski Bal & Krassen Lutzka - Oriental
✓ Boban Marković Orkestar - Magija [Magic]
✓ Rita Abadzi - Prepei Na Skeptetai Kaneis
✓ Romica Puceanu - Unde o--fie puiul de aseara
✓ Taraf de Haidouks - Balada Conducatorolui
✓ Shahram Nazeri - Selfless
✓ Huun-Huur-Tu - Mezhegei
✓ Sussan Deyhim - The Candle & The Moth

download pt. 2 here

Michael's Meditation Musics pt. 3 "the book is blank"

✓ Ensemble of the Bulgarian Republic - Polegnala e Todora
✓ Mohammad Reza Mortazavi - The Will
✓ Trio Chemirani - Le Retour de Molla Nasr'din
✓ Zakir Hussain - Kalpana
✓ unknown touareg - unknown
✓ unknown gnawa - Tramin
✓ unknown tuvan - tongue twister
✓ unknown native american - Beowawe
✓ unknown crow - Crow Traditional Song
✓ unknown african - Lukuji
✓ unknown inuit - girl's game & agnutn
✓ unknown new guinea - spirit flutes
✓ unknown navajo - night chant
✓ unknown northern japan - ainu hero narr
✓ Huun-Huur-Tu - Khöömei
✓ unknown javanese - pangkur
✓ Alemu Aga - Selamta (The Creation)
✓ unknown brazilian - Capoeira
✓ Master drummers of Dagbon - Gurinsi-Waa
✓ unknown haitian - Port-au-Prince Drumming Demonstration
✓ Boubacar Diagne - Dembe
✓ Idjah Gadidjah - Daun Pulus Keser Bojong
✓ Halima Chedli Ensemble - Healing in Morocco "Touhami Dikr (excerpt)"

download pt. 3 here

Michael's Meditation Musics pt. 4 "the child is born"

✓ Philip Glass & Foday Musa Suso - suso's song
✓ unknown ghanan - apatampa
✓ Ali Farka Toure - Savane
✓ Mamadou Sidibe & Jongo Traore - Prenpreni (Bush Spirit)
✓ Unknown Kalahari Bushmen - Nxai
✓ Umalali - Luwübüri Sigala (Hills of Tegucigalpa)
✓ Salif Keita - The Mansa of Mali
✓ Corale Corse - Paghjelle
✓ unknown indian - unknown
✓ unknown indian - unknown
✓ Carmen Amaya - unknown
✓ Toumani Diabaté & Ballake Sissoko - Kita Kaira
✓ Raul Garcia Zarate - Suenos
✓ Fernandor tor - unknown
✓ Qing ge le, Da ri ma - Jujube Tree On THe Holy Hill
✓ Unknown Tibetan Buddhist Monks - Nyen-seng
✓ Forward Kwenda - Mbira Spirit Ceremony "Tadzungaira & Gonamombe Rerume"

download pt. 4 here

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MOAR juke (UPDATED with mp3s!)

i kind of can't get enough of juke. i'm playing a lot of other music right now, but what i want to listen to is juke.

i've been mining this stuff for a while and it's amazing... particularly the footworking stuff (the more abstract sub-laden tunes for the dancers more than the run-of-the-mill booty house tunes). it can be abrasive at times, but having seen it go down live i love the energy and i think the style is worth trying to appreciate... it could be compared to bmore club stuff, and has isn't that far off the more hyper dubstep tunes... but it's nearly 20 years old... and has a whole culture of dancing.

o.k. so... some links...

if you know nothing about juke watch this first... this track like many juke tracks features a short vocal sample cut and pasted into a main instrument sound (in this case, bob marley...)

pretty good juke/footworking mix (by µ-ziq!) - (don't bother if you don't have serious woofers hooked up. the bass in this shit is LOW LOW LOW...

via jeff macarthur, an endless thread on the style HERE - (quality videos, links to individual producers, etc...)

a very popular juke video compilation (which i've already posted in my big dance video post...) -

a good juke dancing battle... 1:15 is AMAZING -

chicago reader article (with some video and beautiful photos, including the one above...)

UPDATES:

AMAZINGLY informative Dave Quam article on juke... (his blog is good, too...)

DJ Rashad & DJ Spinn drop a mix for XLR8R & a mix for Fact Magazine.

dj rupture wrote a short post on juke, but more importantly upped THIS.

also... i packed up a few mp3s i found... mostly weirder footwork tracks... & not the straight juke stuff. the tunes are:

DJ NATE - "back up kid", "my heart" & "3peat"
DJ RASHAD - "teknitian" & "In Da Club Before Eleven O' Clock"
DJ ELMOE - "Where yo ghost at, Where yo dead man"
& a bonus Kill Frenzy remix that appeared on Kingdom's mix for low end spasm that has some juke vibes to it.

JUKE MP3s HERE!

feel free to send me more info, and more tracks! always down for more juke heat.

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where you at?

blogging has been nearly impossible, but the basic situation is thus... things are great. laura and i just celebrated 8 years of being together. she has a new log up documenting our son's days. i keep doing deejay events, and the world keeps turning. i use facebook for most of my link-posting and hopefully some day i'll blog here again more often. there's still great music i'm working with, but it's best heard live. peace, all!

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spectrum yum yum yum

a blog about rainbow colored things...
lots of nice images.
via laura gyre

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the hood gang

local rock hoodlums, the hood gang, have a new song and video out. well done folks! i'm a tad late on posting it, but it was in honor of the year anniversary of the king of pop's death...



they're a real blast... definitely one of the highest energy shows you will ever attend. Sneaky Mike, their front-man is a party animal and spiritual force. also, my buddy miguel plays sick aux. latin percussion with them. he has a few projects of his own that are worth hearing too... anyway, the hood gang gets mad props from this (usually) non pop/rock fan...

remember, everyone's in the hood gang!

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visualizing the oil spill

view the oil spill in a real personal way...

via count zero's facebook

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real riot porn

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awesome bark

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_deglupta
looks like acrylic worked with a palette knife if you ask me... gorgeous... imagine growing this into a living space, like espalier but more three dimensional... even as an outdoor space it could be beautiful, especially closed off in portions with passion fruit vines or some such... but alas, the rainbow eucalyptus doesn't grow in pittsburgh due to the freeze, but it could work indoors...

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a choice eight (and some 2009 awards)

it's been a while since i posted any hot music. pardon that. life, and all... here's all the tracks below .zipped up on mediafire... but read! learn! click! (and when you can, find these artists and get them some money...)

first off, the best track of 2009 for me was undoubtedly James Blake's "Air & Lack Thereof". i'd think the tune had been hyped enough, but both DJ Ripley & DJ/rupture were unaware of it, so clearly it needs more props... besides having an excellent title, the tune is massive. and beautiful. and abstract. and melodic. and poised. it has great negative space, indecipherable voices and unbelievable humming bass. do it the favor of listening to it on your deepest system... better yet hand it to the deejay at a club with a look that says: "right fucking now".

James Blake "Air & Lack Thereof" mp3 320kbps (mediafire)

He's been off in a few more directions, made a hot remix of an untold track (that while annoying at times, is amazing in sets), pop remixes under an alias, a new tinkery solo release that diplo and others have taken notice of, and an e.p. with airhead that contains this far out gem:

James Blake & Airhead "Pembroke" mp3 320kbps (mediafire)

For me, the producer of the year for 2009 was Eskmo (Shackleton for 2nd place? 2562 for 3rd?) Watery, squishy bass, trudging along with humor, power & a sense of play. I've had a lot of fun going back into his early catalogue, with techy tracks like "process" & "willow grail" and the pots and pans freakout of "san fransisco: the rhythm". Late in 2009 he dropped this next tune, which combines a lot of these elements with a touch of his occasionally ascendant sonic drama. Wait for the late drop when the music box has been wound enough to spring:

Eskmo "Let Them Sing" mp3 320kbps (mediafire)

I don't have a ton to say about this next tune other than it has mined the vein that rustie opened up to new levels of 8 bit deviance. the tune "goulash" from the same e.p. is probably the better tune overall, but the opening is so alienating i didn't want to punish anyone with it. De-quantized to the max:

Slugabed "Ultra Heat-treated" mp3 320kbps (mediafire)

In a somewhat similar vein, though much smoother, is this one-off piece of brilliance from the diverse (and prolific) musical mind of mark pritchard. while pritchard has cranked out funky afrobeat sampling house jams, this 8 bit piece of swagger is a whole different animal. the vocal makes it a detroit booty tune, but luckily the sexual drama it plays out is very equal opportunity and dance-floor-centric. wind your butt! BIG TUNE at my parties...

Mark Pritchard & Om'Mas Keith "Wind it Up" mp3 320kbps (mediafire)

This next one is the farthest off my normal playlist... at 120 bpm, it's the only tune on this list out of the (holy!) 130-140 bpm range. it's synth filled and a touch cluttered, but it's got a sense of funk and groove that's infectious, walking & somehow restrained. Tune worked great at a recent fashion show i did... Don't know much about Mono/Poly, but i also like their tune "Beatles Bitch". A tad repetitive by the end, maybe, but they're working it slick.

Mono/Poly "The George Machine" mp3 320kbps (mediafire)

What's left? Monster bass. Another not to insult with your puny laptop speakers, this widdler tune (like almost all widdler tunes) features great sound design, a darkness flecked with tongue-in-cheek mood-lightening moments and cataclysmic sub-bass movement. Another artist I was a touch shocked Ripley & Rupture hadn't encountered. Big producer, in my opinion, just pure dubstep. The second drop in this one is the real prize. Squicky. Icky. Sicky.

The Widdler "Go Ask Alice" mp3 320kbps (mediafire)

All right... last one. This tune has so much going for it... Kuduro-influenced rhythmic structure, bright African guitar samples, Bassline house bottom end, great vocal cut-ups, and a tight, fast-paced phrasing that makes it a banger on every dance-floor. hell, i played this at all three of my last gigs to great effect, including the fancy wedding. Débruit. Get hip. One of my blog-crushes, Wizards are Better, have a nice little primer on the man with a ton more mpfrees...

Débruit "Nigeria What?" mp3 320kbps (mediafire)

that's all for now... someday i'll have to post some of the not-dubstep-at-all music i've been listening to, but i know i have to satisfy those bass fiends out there first... yinz get twitchy! I don't know how I'd get through the cravings without torrentech... i'd guess i'd just have to spend a lot more money at boomkat.

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dance your asses off...

Well... so much dancing & fun... DJ Ripley & DJ/rupture both played my monthly D.J. night (awesome, the both of em...), checked out the Tomb Crew with my favorite local deejays, and i've been going nuts on the resurgence of tribal percussion in dance music... but it was seeing a Chicago juke video that reminded me of my promise to Olivia of Zafira Dance Company to write a post about my the influences on my dancing... While i can't do all of these moves, i can do a lot of em, and i try to combine them into a fusion that reacts to the diversity in a great deejay set. note: the music in these videos is somewhat secondary... i picked 'em for the movement primarily...

first, wicked fast juke dancers to set the mood. pure gold.



so the club is packed, you have to move, but how? here's some kuduro dancers, which interest me because they dance at 140+ b.p.m., a tempo range that's very au courant...



the guy at 1:59 in that kuduro video blows my mind... love that walking in place shit... anyway, speaking of kuduro... get some legwork tips from this one... swing those knees!



there is some arm and hand miming in that one, but really no hand and arm work is complete without peeping the master himself, flattop...



here's another with terrible audio, but a bit longer... he's really the best popper/locker/strober i know of... very flexible, too... does some yoga-like stalls...



that movement is really all about isolation... working different sections of your body without moving the others... something any tribal style bellydancer knows all about... Mel here kind of does what i'm talking about... though a bit more fluid obviously than a pop-locker... i've seen her perform with her partner from Kassar some way slower shit than this, which is my real fave.



here's another... it's again similar to (but not as good as) the utter badass slowness one might have seen from the mid 2000s Zafira girls... I'm sure they still rock that style occasionally, though it's been more raucus and balkan from them lately. Note: if you're looking for great bellydance troupes and links, start nowhere but this collection (right at the top are the women of Zafira, our local tribal style geniuses...)



while it's a bit more ass-centric, the dutty wine is another of these isolation-based dances. based in dancehall culture, it's a farily sexualized dance, that non-the less gets some real props in my book from a skill level. humorously, the wiki cautions that "Some doctors have warned against performing the Dutty Wine, claiming it may cause serious muscle trauma, and ligament damage." this white boy is unafraid.



to me this all starts to get combined in liquid dance, or basic rave dancing... before going too deep into the liquid stuff... let's start with a fairly clubby version of breakdance one finds at the better, more cosmopolitan dancing events. I saw this woman at DEMF 2007, and she's still great on youtube.



but yeah... liquid... often made fun of, but pretty fucking cool anyway... it's an adaptation of tai chi, and is all about continuous, fluid movements, often very arm & hand oriented... he's doing tiny bits of "tutting" here, too...



this guy's a bit stiff and isn't moving the rest of his body much, but this is a great example of the basic hand movements of classic rave dancing. i swear this evolved because of the tightly packed
dancefloors that don't allow for wild arm movements...



there are two dancers in this next one, and while they incorporate a ton of pop-locking and other breakdance styles, there is a liquidity here that's great... especially the second dancer. don't be fooled by how much of a dork he seems at first... mad skills!



no post about dancing would be complete without crip-walking... especially the transcendant foot-work at 2:39.



ok... some details. my dancing also contains some small details i think make a big difference... i take a cue from kathakali dancing in terms of face control...



hands: tiny fluttering movements that complete the tighter areas of the body's natural spiral... the belly dance name for it is "lotus hands" i can't find any better examples of this, but she basically does it. I'd like to think my version of this is cooler... a lot more cascading individual finger movement...



fingers: this guy does some finger tutting, which is really fun... i use tiny bits of these actions...



directions: the dancer has a lot of axes to work with... in this clip from james brown's pilot t.v. episode, future shock, this guy at 3:15 is dealing with time in a mostly 90 degree way, but with a ton of moxie and funk...



feet: while we're with james brown, he does some great sliding footwork in this video early on...



feet: of course, there's always michael's footwork...



someone has adapted the moonwalk to the breakdancing style "gliding"...



i do a think where i glide in a circle with my feet basically never leaving first position, but i can't find anyone else doing that. i realize i'll have to step up at some point and upload a video... it will take goading... anyway, interms of other dancingthen there's the stuff that i don't even pretend to incorporate, but i find terribly inspiring... there's the lindy hop:



and of course really bad ass breakdancers... my buddy jubz had some videos of aerialists that youtube has never bested, but here's an amazing windmill compilation i found:



even further there is the not-exactly dance movement that rocks my world, like capoeria:



sometimes the music makes me move slowly, like in tai chi:



and sometimes it's all about spirit... "duende", as flamenco would call it. maybe it takes just being goofy, just being energetic or whatever, but you have to feel it. here are some Rajasthani dancers (who feel it!) from the spectacular film, Latcho Drom:



P.S. (i'm sure i forgot some AWESOME dancing that I love... and some that isn't even my thing but still rules... so feel free to leave some more tips in the comments... i'll update this post if anything is really crucial!)

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videomg

via boingboing


via masala


via pure moxie

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